NSW scrap metal dealers should contact their local police
station to organise registration, and familiarise themselves with
the new identification protocols and limitations on payment
methods.
On 14 September the NSW Parliament passed the
Scrap Metal Industry Bill which aims to regulate criminal
activity within the scrap metal industry in three major ways:
- scrap metal dealers can no longer pay cash;
- new record keeping measures and registration requirements will
ensure that the sale of stolen scrap metal can be traced; and
- police officers now have powers of entry, inspection and
seizure.
The Hon Rick Colless, in introducing the Bill into the Upper
House in Parliament, estimated that 600 to 700 scrap metal
businesses are operating across New South Wales and "[u]p
until now this trade has been largely unregulated and undocumented
making it extremely attractive to criminals as a way to make some
quick cash".
