|
Inept Oz Governments Allow Outrageous Corporate Profiteering at Public's Expence
by staff report via lynx - News Limited Sunday, Apr 22 2012, 8:49am
international /
injustice/law /
commentary
Successive SPINELESS and SERVILE Oz governments have allowed Corporations to EXPLOIT average Aussies for decades without demanding explanations for BRAZEN overcharging. Australian's pay 150% more for their electricity than Canadians for no good reason, well, there is one, Aussies are apathetic, gutless morons that accept overcharging by Corporations without protestation, so why should government worry? Overcharging is now habitual and widespread and has flowed over into the IT market where Aussies have been paying an average of 120% more for software packages than their international counterparts.
Report from News Ltd follows:
AUSTRALIANS are being short-changed by thousands of dollars when buying software, with international companies charging us more than double overseas prices.
With more international companies now offering their products to download directly from their website, Labor MP Ed Husic wants the government to conduct a formal inquiry into the extent of IT price differences within Australia.
"Australian consumers are often paying up to 80 per cent more for these products, compared to what is charged to US or UK customers for exactly the same products," Mr Husic told The Daily Telegraph.
While the cost of Microsoft Windows 7 Professional on the US online store is $199.99, the same product on the Australian website is $449 - a mark-up of 125 per cent. Similarly, the popular Adobe CS 5 Photoshop software, which retails online in the US for $2599, is sold in Australia for nearly $4000.
Some global suppliers tried to blame the discrepancy on the cost of supplying a smaller market like Australia but a Productivity Commission report refuted this, saying the "costs of delivery to the customer are practically zero and uniform around the world".
The ACCC told The Daily Telegraph it was not able to influence Australian software prices.
"The ACCC is constrained by the legislation it administers and there are no provisions in the Act that prohibit this type of conduct," ACCC spokeswoman Erin Polmear said.
A Microsoft spokesperson yesterday blamed its 125 per cent mark-up on a number of factors, saying: "Every market is different and prices vary by region being determined by a variety of location-specific factors including, but not limited to, local market conditions, local taxes, duties and in the case of physical retail and logistics."
AVG Australia boss Sam Hendry attributed his company's 40 per cent mark-up to "different margins and cost structures".
"In terms of the operation of our business, we provide a call centre and 35-person workforce who give seven-day-a-week support," he said. "That's something our overseas counterparts don't do."
Adobe and AutoCAD groups both declined to comment.
© 2012 News Limited.
If lackeys like Howard, Rudd and Gillard spent less time kowtowing to foreign corporations and more time defending the interests of average Australians maybe costs here would reflect more closely those in overseas markets.
It is common knowledge Aussies pay higher prices for almost everything -- the entire population would like to know WHY, especially with a Goldman Sachs Carbon Tax about to be imposed on the nation?
http://tinyurl.com/74v8bwt
<< back to stories
|
printable version
PDF version
