http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/frank-zumbo/ Frank Zumbo is an Associate Professor within the School of Business Law and Taxation at the University of New South Wales. Frank has been a tireless consumer advocate and is one of Australia’s leading commentators on competition, consumer and franchising law. During the past 20 years Frank has been at the forefront of business law reform. This has included drafting the “Birdsville Amendment” to effectively outlaw predatory pricing, as well as drafting the proposed “Blacktown Amendment” requiring that companies charge the same low price for the same product in all their retail outlets in the same area.  His research and professional activities are focused on competition and consumer law; franchising and Business Ethics. He has been closely involved in promoting effective laws against unethical corporate behaviour and in ensuring that Australia has the best possible competition and consumer laws. Frank has served in an expert capacity on Federal and State Government Advisory Committees and is a longstanding adviser to Governments, Members of Parliament, and industry associations on business law and policy issues en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-more-to-the-cost-of-living-race-than-flinging-money/ With the cost of living continuing to spiral out of control you have to ask who has the guts at the Federal level to tackle the issue. We all know that Julia is in Western Sydney this week, but we have to ask if she will feel the full impact of the cost of living pressure faced by families across western Sydney every day. Living in a hotel is a luxury that many western Sydney families simply can’t afford. And living in a hotel room means that Julia doesn’t have to experience the full pain that those in Western Sydney endure when they travel hundreds of kilometres each week traversing the traffic nightmare that Sydney has become. Julia won’t have to pay for the tolls out of her pocket when travelling on the motorways in western Sydney. And what about the electricity, water or gas bills and other household expenses which families in western Sydney and across Australia have to deal with? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-more-to-the-cost-of-living-race-than-flinging-money/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-more-to-the-cost-of-living-race-than-flinging-money/#item10718 Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:35:05 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-victory-formula-for-election2013-stop-the-cost/ So what are going to be the battleground issues in Election 2013? Leaving aside that the punters may not like either Julia or Tony, there’s little doubt that cost of living issues are going to be central to this year’s election. There will be the usual debate about border security, the NBN, who’s looking after regional Australia and whether we should be encouraging Australians to move to the top end. But at the heart of all these issues is cost of living. Can we sustain more `unauthorised’ boat arrivals given the pressure these place on housing, jobs and government services? Can Australians afford to pay for broadband services provided through the NBN? And how can people living in regional Australia make ends meet given that the cost of living is an even bigger issue for them? The point is very simple. The cost of living in Australia is going through the roof. Ordinary Australians whether they are in western Sydney or Western Australia are feeling the growing pressure on household budgets. The price electricity is going up. The price of petrol is going up. The price of water is going up. The cost of health services is going up. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-victory-formula-for-election2013-stop-the-cost/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-victory-formula-for-election2013-stop-the-cost/#item10637 Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:50:45 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/liberals-gifted-head-start-in-baby-smooching-marathon/ Is there anything more to be said about Julia Gillard’s September 14 election announcement? Of course there is. As the dust starts to settle quite a few things are starting to become clearer. And one or two things have even come into sharp focus since the cabinet reshuffle. Where do we start? Perhaps at the apparent finish line on September 14. Who will be PM? Will it be Julia or Tony Abbott? Or someone else? It also depends on whether Julia will still be leading the party on Election Day or whether, after a few more terrible opinion polls, there will be a move against her. Julia may have named an election date, but that doesn’t mean she’s beyond challenge. Of course, her defenders will say that it would be disloyal to talk about a leadership challenge during a so-called “election campaign”, but this is still a phony election campaign. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/liberals-gifted-head-start-in-baby-smooching-marathon/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/liberals-gifted-head-start-in-baby-smooching-marathon/#item10549 Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:40:41 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Severe-turbulence-ahead-on-the-radar-for-Qantas/ Poor old Qantas. A once great airline is about to get into bed with Emirates, a strong and powerful competitor which has shown Qantas a thing or two about successfully running an airline. For some, it’s a case of the old saying “if you can’t beat them, join them”. For others, it’s just the end result of a repeated failure by Qantas to respond in a smart and timely manner to the ever-changing international aviation market. So how did Qantas get into its current state? Well, it’s a long story but there are a number of recurring themes. First, Qantas has repeatedly failed to respond to the international aviation market in a manner that allows it to get ahead of its competitors. While the emergence of Emirates and Etihad was changing the landscape, Qantas didn’t really know how to respond. For years Qantas was happy to stick by its “oneworld” alliance anchored by British Airways and American Airlines. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Severe-turbulence-ahead-on-the-radar-for-Qantas/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Severe-turbulence-ahead-on-the-radar-for-Qantas/#item10447 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:45:49 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/consumer-dreams-reduced-to-oversized-concrete-boxes/ We have always been told that consumers should be allowed to decide where they should shop so why don’t we allow consumers to decide whether a supermarket or shopping centre should be built in the first place? All too often we hear of protracted and costly disputes about whether a major supermarket should be built in a particular town or city. Sadly, these disputes can turn nasty, especially as major supermarkets have shown a tendency to fight local Councils and even residents through the Courts and have spared no expense in doing so. Then, of course, you have major supermarkets and shopping centres pushing for the biggest possible development they can build. These oversized developments may be far in excess of what’s needed to service the community and usually look like big concrete boxes. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/consumer-dreams-reduced-to-oversized-concrete-boxes/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/consumer-dreams-reduced-to-oversized-concrete-boxes/#item10346 Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:35:37 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/those-gasbag-retailers-have-tanked-your-wallets-this-year/ As the year comes to an end it’s timely to reflect on how you might have been ripped off during 2012 and what can be done about it in 2013. Here are just some of the rip offs so feel free to tell us about others. First up we have the ongoing petrol rip off. Poor old motorists got ripped off every day of the week as the same petrol was sold by the same petrol retailer at different prices at different locations. At one location you could pay a higher price than another location. That’s the old geographic price discrimination trick. There’s no rational reason why the same petrol has a higher price in one suburb as opposed to the adjoining suburb or even across the road. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/those-gasbag-retailers-have-tanked-your-wallets-this-year/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/those-gasbag-retailers-have-tanked-your-wallets-this-year/#item10249 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 19:34:59 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/A-super-solution-to-fix-congestion-on-our-roads/ Are you sick of being stuck in Sydney traffic for hours? Are you annoyed about the near constant traffic chaos around Sydney airport? And do you ever wonder why there are so many cars driving through Sydney’s CBD? Well, what you are seeing is a general failure of transport planning by successive governments over many decades. Not since Dr JJC Bradfield have we had a true transport visionary in Sydney. What we get is an endless procession of so-called transport experts who are increasingly just free market fundamentalists having this delusional view that the market will fix all transport and infrastructure problems. The so-called market in this case are those big private sector companies that just want toll roads so they can simply milk motorists for decades with ever increasing tolls. It’s so easy for a private sector company to build a toll road that barely meets the existing transport needs to just rake in lots of easy money until the toll road can’t cope anymore. Then there’s inevitable call for a new toll road with a new income stream to milk motorists. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/A-super-solution-to-fix-congestion-on-our-roads/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/A-super-solution-to-fix-congestion-on-our-roads/#item10153 Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:35:08 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/wanted-a-sharp-set-of-pearly-whites-for-this-agency/ With small businesses across Australia increasingly under threat from the games that can be played by shopping centre landlords, franchisors and larger businesses, it’s certainly time for all small businesses to have access to an independent small business commissioner in their particular state or territory. With Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and New South Wales all having a state-based small business commissioner to help their small businesses, businesses in Tasmania, Queensland, the North Territory and the ACT are certainly missing out on the considerable benefits that a state or territory small business commissioner could bring at very little cost. And no one should get too excited about the so-called new federal Small Business Commissioner. We have had lots of talk of a federal small business commissioner during the year, but it has only just been created. Obviously the Federal Labor Government is a big talker. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/wanted-a-sharp-set-of-pearly-whites-for-this-agency/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/wanted-a-sharp-set-of-pearly-whites-for-this-agency/#item10033 Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:35:08 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/wed-zumbo/ There’s something dreadfully wrong somewhere along the line when Sydney can get a second casino, but not a second airport. While Melbourne is talking about a third major airport, Sydney can’t get its act together to build a second, let alone, third airport that’s likely to be needed soon after any second airport is built. Do we really need a second Sydney Casino? You be the judge. Do we need more problem gamblers or are we simply going to rely on the so-called `high rollers’ from overseas to make the second casino viable? Well, we don’t need more problem gamblers and repeated references to so-called ‘Asian high rollers’ are now getting a bit tiresome and border on the offensive. If any other cultural group was being referred to in such a potentially exploitative manner we would probably be hearing calls for an apology. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/wed-zumbo/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/wed-zumbo/#item9919 Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:40:46 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-not-an-app-for-real-time-petrol-prices/ Are you sick and tired of the big jumps in petrol prices when one petrol retailer pushes up prices and other retailers follow within a few hours or less? Are you annoyed when you buy petrol at one location only to find that it’s much cheaper at the location up the road? Well, you should be! You are being ripped off! And it happens regularly. Wouldn’t it be great if all motorists had access to all petrol prices in real time through their smartphone? Wouldn’t it also be great if, while you were driving, a smartphone app alerted you to the cheapest petrol price within a one, two or three kilometre radius of your current position? That would be great because motorists could then have a reasonable chance of finding the cheapest petrol station with the cheapest petrol prices at any particular point in time. There would be no need for motorist to physically travel around to find the cheapest petrol price. The smartphone app would do the searching for the motorist instantaneously. It’s so obvious isn’t it? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Frank Zumbo) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-not-an-app-for-real-time-petrol-prices/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-not-an-app-for-real-time-petrol-prices/#item9798 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:30:22 +0000 Frank Zumbo | Author bios | The Punch