At our last meeting it was discussed that we should be contacting current affairs programs to share our frustration with the lack of response from government bodies and hopefully put some pressure on them or at the least clean up our industry.
This is a draft copy below which would be supported by letters from irate Chinese opal customers and government bodies.
We welcome any comments/suggestions you might like to make in regards to this
THREAT TO AUSTRALIA’S OPAL INDUSTRY
The opal association has been very concerned with the amount of synthetic/imitation opal that has been flooding the Australian in bound tourist market. This mainly concerns the one million Chinese tourists who are spending tens of millions on opal only to be sold un- natural stones/jewellery which are made over seas. Our opal industry and Australia is not benefiting from this business but it can only get a bad reputation when the customers realize they have been cheated. Sample letter from irate customer attached.
The inbound tourist market is well controlled by the operators who take on average 50 % commissions on opal sales and some are asking 65% .Other Australian products like wool ect pay around 15% so our industry has been targeted as the main revenue income for inbound tour operators. We believe this causes massive deceit by the tour operators on their customers as this business model cant survive with out implying the stock they are selling is natural Australian opal . We believe that the tour companies sell there tours cheaply and have picked on our opal industry to get high kick backs by deceit. Some shops are closed to outsiders and in some instances only those on the controlled bus can enter.. This is a industry closed only to those who give secret commissions and who deceive there customers.While synthetic/man made opals are the main problem there is also composite opals[natural stones joined together} being passed off as solid stones for high prices.
We have contacted the ACCC .Austrade, Qld fair trading and had a meeting with the trade and tourism minister Steven Ciobo. While they recognize and are aware of the problem the main comment they have is they feel there is enough laws to control the description of opals. We were involved with Qld fair trading in helping prosecute one Qld company which we believe got a $10,000 fine but still continue the practice of deceit to their customers.
Correspondence from Qld fair trading would be attached.
What we are seeking is federal legislation to have proper and clear opal description’s on the items and invoices to protect our industry and the customer.
Kind Regards
Paul Sedawie
President of the Opal Association