Page 8 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine Jul-Aug 2021

8
F
NEWS
PAINT&PANEL
JULY / AUGUST 2021
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
8 THREE HIT I-CAR GOLD • 12 POPULAR PODCASTS • 14 GREEN BELT CHAMPIONS
PREP IT! WINNERS
Mercedes Gaida is the latest Prep it! winner.
THE TEAM AT SAINT-GOBAIN HAS AN-
nounced the first female winner of the Norton Prep It! apprentice competition, Mercedes Gaida. Mercedes is a second year apprentice attending Kangan Insti- tute in VIC and employed by Royans Truck and Trailer Repairs. The runner up winner for May is Dean Hutchinson, a third year apprentice also from Kan- gan Institute VIC, employed by Barker Trailers. Congratulations to the two May winners.
Entries are now open for the June com- petition. The Prep It! apprentice competi- tion is designed to showcase the skill and
knowledge the apprentices learn through- out their training using sanding tech- niques from bare metal through to pol- ishing. Entrants can use any Norton product from the automotive range to prepare the panel for their chance to win the monthly $200 gift card prize and $50 gift card for runners up. All entries go in the draw to win the grand prize at the end of the year a $2,000 gift card, with $500 for second and $250 for third place.
Entrants may enter once per month, visit digitalcomms.saint-gobain.com.au/AAM- PREP-IT-Comp for more details.
RIGHT TO REPAIR NOW LAW
OLLOWING NEARLY A DECADE
of campaigning by AAAA
and MTAA, the new law will make it illegal for car compa- nies to withhold information from the repair industry – keeping the cost of replacement parts, vehicle main-
tenance and repair affordable.
AAAA's Stuart Charity, said the man-
datory scheme will require all motor ve- hicle service and repair information to be made available for purchase by inde- pendent repairers at a fair market price.
“It has been a long time coming but will be welcome news for the automotive in- dustry. We started campaigning for this law a decade ago and have been through two government inquiries and even through a voluntary agreement in 2014 which was a complete failure,” he said.
The new law is designed to provide a fairer playing field for the repair and service of the 74 automotive brands available in Australia in an industry worth $23 billion annually.
Work is already underway to assist the Treasury Department in designing infor- mation-sharing scheme rules. Peak auto- motive organisations, manufacturers, in- formation providers, and the Department will work collaboratively to finalise the
rules, mechanisms, and processes to im- plement the scheme smoothly in 2022.
Charity singled out the Federal As- sistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar. “He has personally steered this through Government, and we thank him for his leadership.”
This new law is the result of unprece- dented industry cooperation with over 75 workshops hosting visits from their local MPs to demonstrate what happens when vehicle manufacturers withhold
software updates and technical service bulletins.
“We don’t have a very politicised membership and for our small owner operated workshops to get on board with direct emails and contact with their lo- cal MP is the best indicator we have that this is important to our members and to their customers,” Charity said.
The new scheme will be monitored for compliance by the Australian Competi- tion and Consumer Commission.