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Consumer Action Law Centre has revealed a list of its top consumer-centric priorities to make life fairer and better for all Australians, ahead of the upcoming federal Election. 

“This Federal Election is all about the cost-of-living, and no matter who steps into government it’s vital that they prioritise relieving the harsh financial burdens now being felt by families, especially those families who are doing it tough,” said Stephanie Tonkin, Consumer Action Law Centre CEO. 

Ms Tonkin said Consumer Action’s frontline services heard every day from people who literally cannot afford the roof over their head and are struggling to make ends meet.  

“We’re also often hearing about unscrupulous and unfair conduct by businesses and people struggling to find a simple pathway to justice,” Ms Tonkin said 

Consumer Action has strongly advocated on behalf of scam victims and Ms Tonkin said the recently legislated Scam Prevention Framework must be implemented by the next Government as quickly as possible with a straightforward redress scheme for victims. 

“The price of essential services, like energy and telecommunications, must be affordable especially for people experiencing vulnerability. We are observing concerning trends in denial of meaningful hardship for people in really challenging circumstances.   

“For responsible lending, whatever the scale of the lender they must follow their responsible lending obligations, and this is more important than ever when people are relying on credit for day-to-day essentials like food,” she said.  

Ms Tonkin said that Consumer Action had campaigned for years to achieve many much-needed changes to make the market a fairer place for consumers and it’s crucial that the next Government follows through with reforms to help the hundreds of thousands of Australians now doing it tough.  

Read our Election Priorities 2025.  Watch a video of Stephanie explaining the platform. 

Media contact: Mark Pearce, Media and Communications Adviser, 0413 299 567, media@consumeraction.org.au