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Mr MATTHEW MORRIS (Charlestown) [5.45 p.m.]: I bring to the attention of the House the recent launch of BestDealDone.com. Best Deal Done is the newest information technology based consumer purchasing package, and puts the consumer in the driving seat. I had the pleasure of officially launching the program at the Hunter Business Chamber's office recently. I am proud that this technology has been conceptualised, produced and delivered to the world from the Hunter region. Best Deal Done was created by a small group of individuals who identified a need to give greater power to the consumer and make the business sector work for their business.
The team—Mr Tony Richards, Mr Ray Balks, Mr Paul Fenton, Ms Glenise Anderson and Ms Sasha Fenton—has spent many hours getting this great service in place to offer a unique program that delivers benefits to the consumer and business alike. Essentially, Best Deal Done is a program that reverses the onus, which has historically been on the consumer, to source out the best deal for goods and services. Now, consumers simply identify what goods or services they need, and Best Deal Done then contacts businesses and suppliers, who then bid against each other to provide those services or goods.
The benefits to consumers include no cost being involved in looking for any products; shopping anonymously if they choose; significant opportunities for getting the best price or product; a positive shopping experience of watching providers compete for their business; no cost in seeking availability of any services; no necessity to advertise their needs externally for products or services; access to identity of providers can be used in the future; flexible options with out-of-hours shopping; consumers control the shopping process; they can get all their shopping needs in one place; an unlimited variety of suppliers available on all products and services; and isolated shoppers having access to the world.
Many may be familiar with eBay and the associated risks of making payments for purchases and the goods never turning up. Best Deal Done is free to the consumer, and once a business is identified and the price is right the consumer can then contact the business directly and make arrangements for payment and collection of any goods. The strongest benefit for consumers is their ability to simply specify what they want and watch business bid without knowing each other's price. As an example, you can specify a type of washing machine. Business people then bid to supply the machine for their price. The consumer picks the best price and contacts the business to finalise the purchase. Some would say this a reverse eBay system.
This system is simple to use. It is a concept that is obvious, yet it has not been in the marketplace. Technology is constantly changing and even trying to keep up with the home computer is sometimes difficult. The use of the Internet to source and purchase goods and services has grown rapidly. Now the new player in the market, Best Deal Done, is set to further advance opportunities for Internet buyers and sellers to grow their business. Its application is worldwide and currently is free to both the business sector as well as the consumer. The potential is enormous and the benefits obvious in empowering the consumer to get the best deal.
Proudly, this program demonstrates the diverse mix of skills and ability of people in the Hunter in the field of information technology services. I am pleased that the team at Best Deal Done are Hunter people and that they are now delivering this outstanding package to the world, for use primarily by Australians. As my constituent Mr Paul Harrigan would say, along with his favourite hand gesture, "That's gold!" That gesture seems to have amused our colleague the honourable member for Davidson_he must be a rugby league fan.
Mr Milton Orkopoulos: He's a Knights supporter.
Mr MATTHEW MORRIS: He may be a Knights supporter. I conclude by saying that this is a fantastic package, and it will take off as it becomes established and known in the marketplace. It puts the consumer in the driver's seat and, importantly, raises the bar in the level of competition between individual businesses in vying for a consumer's business. That is an enormous benefit, and it will result in products and services being made available to consumers at much more competitive rates than has been traditional. I congratulate the team, and I look forward to the growing success of the service into the future. [Time expired.]