The name and shame register to expose the state's dodgiest smash repairers and car dealers has become a "farce", the Opposition claims, because it will not detail the breaches.
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Fair Trading Minister Matthew Mason-Cox announced last month a "public name and shame register" would begin on December 1 as new motoring laws came into force. He said it would strengthen consumer protections and lift industry standards.
But while the regulation shows the register will disclose the number of penalty notices issued against shonky operators, it will not give the details of their poor-quality repairs.
"The Fair Trading Minister is making it into a complete farce," the Opposition's fair trading spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk said. "The name and shame register will effectively be of no purpose and contrary to what the inquiry wanted."
The register would have potentially fulfilled one of the 21 recommendations made by a bi-partisan parliamentary inquiry in July, which in a report concluded that major insurers were prioritising profit over safety by returning unsafe vehicles onto roads.
The committee wanted the register to be modelled on the NSW Food Authority's well-publicised name and shame system that offered terse descriptions of the breaches.
Mr Mason-Cox did not answer Fairfax Media's questions about the register. He will respond to the inquiry's findings by January 2 - a month after the Motor Dealers and Repairers Act begins.
Ms Mihailuk was also concerned about Mr Mason-Cox's plan to exclude Fair Trading from becoming involved in cases where motorists are in dispute with an insurer over poor-quality vehicle repairs.
From December, consumers would be redirected to the insurer's internal dispute process, the Financial Ombudsman Service or to the courts, she said. This would reduce Fair Trading's capacity to issue penalty notices.
"The vast majority of motorists who experience poor-quality vehicle repairs do so during an existing insurance claim – consumers will not be aware of these shoddy repairers if these examples are not placed on the name and shame register," she said.
Liberal MP Ray Williams, a member of the select committee that handed down the scathing report on the motoring industry, said consumers needed a register divulging details about breaches to make informed decisions, otherwise it was "a waste of time, just a fruitless exercise".
He also wanted the register to include car insurers that breached their own codes of conduct.
The committee report said concerns "that insurers may put profit ahead of safety, pressuring repairers to repair to a price, not a standard" were warranted. The two major insurers, IAG and Suncrop, dominate 60 per cent of the motor insurance market, the report said.
When Mr Mason-Cox announced the register, he said it would provide extra incentives for traders to comply with the law because of the possible damage to their reputation.
