Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Essential Services Commission’s (the ESC) proposed amendments to the water customer service codes. O...
Consumer Action has made a submission to the Essential Services Commission in relation to its Taxi Non-Cash Payment Surcharge Review 2022. The submission opposes the proposed methodology outlined i...
Consumer Action broadly supports the intention of the Government to introduce regulation to oversee the rapidly growing crypto asset environment. The crypto marketplace currently poses significant...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Australian Energy Regulator’s (the AER) Issues Paper as part of its review of the retailer authorisation and exemption frameworks...
This is a joint submission from Consumer Action Law Centre, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), Financial Counselling Australia and WEstjustice. Our submission draws on...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Victorian Government’s review of the Order in Council (the Order) that was used to give effect to the Victorian Default Offer (the...
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (the ESC) Draft Decision for Victorian Default Offer (the VDO) tariffs to apply...
Consumer Action has provided a submission to the Victorian Property Market Review. The review is an important opportunity to improve property market laws to support Victorians to have fairer and easie...
The impact of COVID-19 and lockdowns during 2021 underscored the essential nature of telecommunications, as well as the effect of poor telecommunications practices on people experiencing vulnerability...
While there have always been various forms of instalment credit products in the marketplace, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is a uniquely Australian invention, that has now been exported around the world....
This joint submission to the Attorney General's Department is made by Consumer Action and Financial Rights Legal Centre. It is staggering that the Government is proposing to roll back its own highl...
The Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) first Interim Report as part of a three-year review of complexity in Commonwealth legislation regulating corporations and financial services, has been tab...
The following organisations have contributed to and endorsed this submission:• Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Legal Centre, and Super Consumers Australia. We support a continuing focu...
Consumers expect to purchase products that work, and when they don’t work people should be easily able to enforce their consumer guarantee rights. We welcome the opportunity to provide comments to...
The Banking Code Compliance Committee’s (BCCC) administration and enforcement of the Banking Code of Practice (the Code) is a key aspect of regulatory oversight in the banking sector. The BCCC’s mo...
Conflicted remuneration is the root cause of many of the problems uncovered by the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (Royal Commission)....
The Australian Investments and Securities Commission's (ASIC) Class Order 14/41 is due to expire in March 2022. Consumer organisations recommend that ASIC allows this to happen. This instrument no...
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights), the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network Ltd (ICAN), the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and WEstju...
Our casework experience in Australia shows that buy now pay later (BNPL) debts are causing or exacerbating financial hardship in substantially the same manner as detailed in the Woolard Review. In...
As the Energy Security Board (the ESB) begins to develop its 3-year reform road map to unlock value for customers from the integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and flexible demand into en...
This submission is Consumer Action’s response to the Privacy Act Review Discussion Paper, published by the Attorney General’s Department in October 2021. We are responding solely to the proposals a...
Banking is an essential service that is critical to the wellbeing of consumers, small businesses and community organisations in regional Australia. However, accelerating branch closures are creating v...
Uncompensated losses arising from financial misconduct can cause a range of lasting impacts on people, including the loss of a family home, bankruptcy, the collapse of the family business, mental and...
Our submission is supported by Financial Counselling Australia, the peak body for financial counsellors (commonly known as financial mentors in New Zealand), who work with not-for-profit community org...
Access to water is an indispensable human right. All Victorians have the right to enjoy access to safe, reliable water supplies, so that they are able live healthy and dignified lives. Fundamental...
Telecommunications services are essential services – but are not regulated as such despite their critical role across the country. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this plan to reform an in...
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) has provided feedback on the Essential Services Commission’s key review questions as part of their review of the implementation of the energy payment diff...
Victoria desperately needs a specialist dispute service to assist people sold defective motor vehicles. Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), WEst...
This joint submission from Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Legal Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Care ACT, Consumer Credit Legal Service (WA) Inc and Council on The Ageing (COTA)...
Draft Guidance: Compensation for non-financial loss and systemic issues This submission is made jointly by Consumer Action Law Centre and WEstJustice. We welcome the opportunity to comment on t...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s Draft Decision: Victorian Default Offer from 1 January 2022 (the draft decision). The draft dec...
This joint submission is made on behalf of members of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) and other consumer representatives and advocates. It builds upon our previous submission made to revi...
Financial Rights Legal Centre, Consumer Action Law Centre and Redfern Legal Centre have made a joint submission to the final round of consultation on the review of the Life Insurance Code of Practice...
We regularly assist Victorians in disputes against telecommunications providers. Often these disputes relate to mis-selling, for example, misleading or deceptive sales practices or selling customers i...
Consumer Action has made a submission to the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety relating to proposed Owners Corporation Amendment Regulations.The submission argues that the regulatio...
Samantha Rudolph is a Wurundjeri woman, and the Aboriginal Policy Officer with Consumer Action Law Centre. She works as part of an integrated practice project addressing the systemic causes of consume...
This joint submission contains feedback on Treasury’s proposed reforms to unfair contract term (UCT) protections for consumers and small businesses from Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Le...
This joint submission is made on behalf of Consumer Action Law Centre, WEstjustice, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and Hume Riverina Community Legal Service. Broadly, we are pleased to see the...
This is a joint submission made on behalf of members of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA), the peak body for consumer organisations in Australia. CFA represents a diverse range of consum...
This submission has been prepared by Consumer Action Law Centre with contributions and endorsement from the Financial Rights Legal Centre, Financial Counselling Australia and Super Consumers Australia...
The Banking Royal Commission revealed that many decisions made by senior leaders of financial services firms have had a devastating impact on people across Australia. Their conduct has driven many mem...
A coalition of consumer groups has welcomed the Federal Government’s commitment to establish a compensation scheme of last resort. Uncompensated losses arising from financial misconduct can cause a...
Consumer Action has today written to the Treasury noting that the Government intends to make amendments to the design and distribution obligations (DDO) regime. The letter strongly urges the Govern...
Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Embedded Networks Review Draft Recommendations Report. We agree with the Panel’s vision that, “...consumers should have equal protections,...
We strongly support recommendations to address the main barriers to accessing repairs and other remedies through consumer guarantees. These barriers would be reduced through the introduction of altern...
For Victorians we speak to at Consumer Action their concerns are often about immediate affordability of energy bills, including gas. These bills are unaffordable for many reasons and can include, but...
This submission is made jointly to the Essential Services Commission from the Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Financial Counselling Victoria and the Victorian Aboriginal L...
Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) draft consumer access and equity strategy, Getting to fair: Breaking down barriers to essential service...
Consumer Action welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (the Commission) consultation paper, Next steps for the Victorian Default Offer (the Consultation Paper). The...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) Access, pricing and incentive arrangements for distributed energy resources (DER) dra...