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Talk of subpoenaing the IT companies reluctant to cooperate with the ongoing price-gouging inquiry appears to have stalled idled.
The IT pricing inquiry is meant to identify why Australians are paying more for the same software and hardware than people in the United States. Despite having some steam during its early days, it appears to have idled.
At the time, the Labor Chairman and Coalition deputy Chairman threatened to issue subpoenas to non-cooperative global IT companies.
Committee Chairman Nick Champion described the efforts of IT companies as “stonewall[ing]” and told The Australian the committee was left with “an invidious choice, either to compel the attendance of individuals to give evidence or to report without hearing in detail from the industry.”
The companies being examined include giants Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, amongst many others.
The Deputy Chairman of the Queensland Liberal National Party, MP Paul Neville, believed the collective “obstruction, avoidance, and evasion” of the inquiry by the IT companies under investigation was deserving of the ‘ultimate sanction.’
“Now the ultimate sanction of this sort of thing is to invoke the committee’s powers to subpoena people.”
Six weeks on and the Committee’s tone seems to have softened by as they focus on ‘cooperation.’
“We’d prefer people to come and give evidence. It’s in the public interest of the IT industry as well,” Champion said.
He did, however, iterate the “committee still has the power to subpoena [IT companies] if it chooses to use it.”
