Welcome to the Consumer Action Law Centre, a campaign-focused consumer advocacy, litigation & policy organisation based in Melbourne, Australia.
Latest news
WARNING! SCAM ALERT: Scammers are falsely using Consumer Action's name to obtain money and banking details from their victims. THIS IS A SCAM! Consumer Action is not responsible for these calls and would never contact anyone requesting money or bank details.
If you receive any unsolicited call offering to refund bank fees incorrectly charged to your account and requesting any sort of personal details or upfront payment you should immediately report the incident to:
# Scamwatch at the the ACCC on 1300 795 995; and
# your local police station or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000; and
# your bank.
For more information, read our Fact Sheet on this scam.
August 2010
20/8: Voters should consider consumer policies. Differences in the major parties’ responses to the Australian consumer groups’ Election Platform should encourage voters to consider their future needs as consumers before making their decision on Saturday. Read our media release.
Read Labor's response.
Read the Coalition’s response.
Read the Greens' response.
10/8: Family holiday ruined. Consumer Action Law Centre has issued proceedings in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on behalf of a client who alleges a holiday house owner wrongly kept her payment for her family's holiday. Read our media release.
9/8: Consumer Advocacy Election Platform. Australia’s consumer movement has called on the four major parties to respond to these key consumer issues before the election. Read our Election Platform.
9/8: Do Not Knock. If you have been trying to obtain some of our popular Do Not Knock stickers, these are now available once more. Please visit our Do Not Knock page to find out how to order the stickers.
3/8: Bushfire Royal Commission releases its report. Consumer Action was disappointed to see the Commission's report recommended the replacement of the fire services levy with a property-based levy.Read our media release.
2/8: Global Maths and English sued by disappointed parent. Consumer Action issues VCAT proceedings against Global Maths and English and their linked credit provider, Ardennan, alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to the in-home sales of their educational software. Read our media release.
July 2010
29/7: Five cases launched against Edufin. Consumer Action issues multiple proceedings against the math software provider after parents who had spent thousands realised the company had signed them up to lease the products instead of buying them outright. Read our media release.
28/7: Scam uses bank fees class action to rip off consumers. Consumer Action urges consumers to be on the lookout for phone scammers making bogus claims of being able to recover thousands of dollars in overcharged bank fees on their behalf. Read our media release.
June 2010
24/6: New national consumer laws welcomed. Consumer Action welcomes the passage of the final Australian Consumer Law reforms through the Federal Parliament this afternoon. Having one national consumer law will ensure consistent protections for all Australian consumers.
We commend the bipartisan support shown for a late amendment to fix a loophole that would have removed high-pressure door-to-door and telemarketing sales protections if the consumer “invited” the salesperson to visit them in their home, even where the “invitation” was engineered by the seller - like when consumers give their contact details to the seller for another reason, such as a competition entry form filled out at a shopping centre.
Consumer Action strongly advocated for this change in our submission to the Senate inquiry into the Australian Consumer Law.
24/6: Bankruptcy law reform backdown. The Government’s backdown on its bankruptcy law reforms in the Senate this morning, made without warning and under the cover of the larger news of the leadership change, is a huge disappointment.
Raising the minimum debt for forced bankruptcy to only $5,000 instead of $10,000 simply will not stop the current problem – that unscrupulous creditors and bankruptcy trustees can misuse the bankruptcy system - instead of using legitimate and cheaper debt collection avenues - to collect small debts because by doing this additional funds can be sucked out of family homes to pay disproportionate trustee fees.
The Government at least made an additional, and sensible, change to the reform package by deferring any expansion in the ability to sign consumers up to controversial debt agreements until the full review of this issue is completed later this year.
For more information, see our joint submission on the original draft Bill and our submission to the Senate inquiry into the reforms.
11/6: Don’t unplug Australians from their electricity and gas services! Consumer representatives from across the country handed Fact Sheets to the Federal and State & Territory Energy Ministers as they entered their twice-yearly meeting in Melbourne to decide on the final form of the new national law for energy customer protections. Read the media release.
May 2010
27/5: New energy law penalties fall woefully short on consumer protections. Consumer Action questions whether the new laws provide energy companies with any real disincentive to stop breaching consumer laws. Read our media release.
21/5: Consumer warning following the collapse of Clive Peeters. Consumer Action warns customers to exercise caution before signing up to any interest free finance deals still being offered by the retailer and gives advice on what to do if they have already purchased items but not received them. Read our media release.
17/5: Consumer groups fear city water users could suffer under unified water laws. Melbournians could be facing water bill price rises that would only get bigger if new unfair and punitive measures for water companies to pursue payment are introduced. Read our media release.
12/5: Business loophole in new consumer lending laws could spell disaster for vulnerable borrowers. Consumer Action is warning consumers to avoid unregistered or unlicensed brokers and lenders after the Centre launched proceedings on behalf of a client who alleges her broker arranged finance for her on several occasions by having her declare that the loans were for business purposes – even though she claims he was aware the money was to pay for her gambling debts. Read our media release.
7/5: Support Law Week (17-23 May). As part of the festivities, there will be a theatrical homage to the Do Not Knock campaign. “Knock, Knock!” is a fun and engaging way to learn about the rules that protect consumers from misleading or aggressive door-to-door selling. Victoria Legal Aid will perform “Knock, Knock!” in Carlton on Monday the 17th and in Geelong on Tuesday the 18th of May. For a calendar of the week’s events click here.
For more information about your rights if a door-to-door sales person knocks at your door read our factsheet.
6/5: Join us in walking for justice. CALC is proud to be taking part in this year’s “Walk for Justice”, supporting the great work PILCH does in providing services to the Centre and its clients year after year. The walk starts on the steps of Parliament House at 7.30am on Monday, 17 May and, if you’d like to get involved, visit PILCH’s website for further information.
April 2010
27/4: ASIC fails to act on debt collection problems. The consumer watchdog is being urged to take action on more than 100 complaints from Consumer Action about poor debt collection practices that have gone unanswered for over a year. Read our media release.
8/4: MoneyHelp calls for better deal on rental housing. Our Victorian state-wide telephone and web financial counselling service says minimum standards to ensure all Victorian rental properties are safe, healthy and affordable to live in are urgently needed. Read our media release.
March 2010
26/3: “Shonky” finance brokers in Victoria. Consumer Action congratulates the Victorian government, the Opposition and the Greens for working together to amend the bill transferring consumer credit laws from the State to the Commonwealth, after a timing error threatened to leave a six month gap in consumer protections for broking services offered in Victoria. Read our media release.
17/3: Insurance industry out of touch. Consumer advocate Denis Nelthorpe appeared before the Bushfires Royal Commission today and argued there were many ways the insurance industry could tackle the problem of under-insurance besides removing the fire services levy. Read our media releaseand our joint submission to the Commission.
15/3: New report released. Consumer Action and Deakin University release a new report "Shutting the Gates: an analysis of the psychology of in-home sales of educational software" at today's National Consumer Congress. Read our media release.
15/3: Film premiere. Dr Paul Harrison of Deakin University launches his short film "Shutting the Gates" at the National Consumer Congress today.The film is a docu-drama based on actual case studies from a joint report "Shutting the Gates: an analysis of the psychology of in-home sales of educational software". See a trailer for the film.
1/3: Fraud Week. Fraud Week runs from 1 March to 7 March 2010. Read an article from the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce's.