Apple Gives Labor MP Two Finger Salute

Apple has given Labor MP Ed Husic the two finger salute after he tried to force them to appear before a House of Representatives standing committee investigation into the pricing of technology goods in Australia.Husic, who has been trying to make a name for himself by singling out IT companies claiming that they are price gouging, has gone after Apple in particular because of their high profile, a Liberal MP told SmartHouse.

Husic has not returned calls from SmartHouse.

“Apple has made the utterly wrong call, bringing down the shutters and refusing to engage with this inquiry,” Mr Husic said. ”They’re making it difficult for the committee to do its work and it’s a massive double standard” because Apple has appeared before US Congressional hearing.

Now Husic wants to force Apple to appear before it claiming that his committee has become frustrated by Apple Australia’s lack of interest in the investigation.

Investigations by SmartHouse reveal that none of the major IT distributors including Ingram Micro, Synex, Westcon or Express Data have received invitations to give evidence to the committee, despite these organisations being responsible for more than 40% of the IT products distributed in Australia including the bulk of Adobe’s and Microsoft’s products in Australia.

They also set pricing for a lot of goods.

The hearings, which will begin in Sydney tomorrow, will investigate the pricing of software and other IT-related material along with music and videos.

Questions that SmartHouse wanted to put to Ed Husic was why he has singled out IT and consumer electronic products and not the high cost of rolling out the NBN broadband service in Australia. We also wanted to question why high end audio products and home automation gear had not been included in the scope of investigation by the committee.

Husic, who appears to only want to talk to mainstream media, told Fairfax Media “Some of the big names in IT have taken local consumers for a ride for years but when legitimate questions are asked about their pricing, they disappear in a flash.”