Senior Solicitor About the role Consumer Action is one of Australia’s leading not-for-profit consumer advocacy organisations, that makes life easier for people experiencing vulnerability and disad...
A coalition of community organisations which work with First Nations consumers and consumer groups are calling on the Australian Government to step in to assist policyholders who have been devastated...
Today is World Consumer Rights Day, which this year focuses on the need for fairer digital finance for all, including better protection from online scammers. New analysis from Consumer Action reveals...
Opinion piece by Gerard Brody, CEO Consumer Action Law Centre A version of this opinion piece appeared in the Herald Sun today The pandemic has helped drive second-hand car prices up 50 percent...
Consumer Action, CHOICE, CCLSWA and WEstjustice are backing Treasury’s recent proposal to penalise businesses who don’t provide a repair, replacement or refund to a consumer when one is due. Fining bu...
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...
Consumer groups* have written to the Essential Services Commission (ESC) calling for Sumo Power’s (Sumo) licence to operate in Victoria to be investigated and monetary compensation for those wrongfull...
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...
Consumer Action has welcomed the Essential Services Commission (ESC) imposing $500,000 in penalties on energy retailer Sumo Power Pty Ltd for wrongfully disconnecting hundreds of families in the lead...
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)....
Consumer Advocates are calling for an urgent rewrite of the Federal Government’s Draft Terms of Reference (Draft TOR) for the Quality of Financial Advice Review (Advice Review). “This review is sup...
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...
Consumer groups and financial counsellors are urging the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to act now to put an end to the use of harmful lending models used to charge excessive...
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...
Financial Counselling Australia and the Consumer Action Law Centre have shared Australia’s experience of weak consumer safeguards for Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), as part of the UK Government’s consultat...
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...
The Treasurer’s proposed transformation of the regulation of payment systems is an opportunity to embed financial safety, and ensure protections are built in from the outset says Consumer Action's CEO...
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...
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s announcement today that the Government intends to reform Australia’s payment systems is a real opportunity to improve consumer protection, according to Consumer Action Law...
The Worker Advice Service plays a central role in Consumer Action’s theory of change. The service aims to provide practical legal advice to Victorian community workers so that they in turn can provide...
The final report of the triennial independent review of the Australian Banking Association’s (ABA) Banking Code of Practice released today makes over 100 recommendations aimed at improving people’s ex...
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...
Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), Financial Rights Legal Centre and the Consumer Action Law Centre welcome the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services’ recommendation...
Consumer Action's Aboriginal Policy Officer Samantha Rudolph, and Director of Policy and Campaigns Katherine Temple spoke today at a Parliamentary Inquiry looking into ways of improving corporate enga...
Consumer advocates are calling on the Victorian Government to commit to a free and effective dispute resolution service for Victorians who are sold ‘lemon’ cars by car dealers in next year’s Budget....
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...
Today we are delighted to publish our Impact Report 2020-21 which highlights Consumer Action’s achievements over the past year. Despite the challenges of another year of working much of it from hom...
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)...
Opinion piece by Gerard Brody, CEO Consumer Action. If there is one thing that changed about our lives from COVID-19, it’s the dramatic shift to online communication and shopping. According to the...
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...
The Reserve Bank of Australia has said today that retailers should be allowed to pass on or ‘surcharge’ customers for the cost of buy now pay later, a move welcomed by Consumer Action Law Centre which...
We hear alot about the increasing importance of measuring the impact of what we do at work, but what exactly are we 'measuring' and how can this analysis make a real and positive difference? Katia...
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...
A raft of major reforms in the financial services sector have come into effect this week, the culmination of years of consistent campaigning and casework from consumer advocacy groups representing hun...
A diverse coalition of organisations is calling for a broad financial compensation scheme, as legislation is expected to be introduced into Federal Parliament in the coming weeks. The coalition, wh...
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...