More than $2billion lost as redress system fails scammed Aussies
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: That lemon car sour taste just keeps getting worse
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...
Punish companies when they fail to give a repair, replacement or refund
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...
ALRC Report 137: Submission to Interim Report A
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...
Consultation Paper 350: Consumer Remediation
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...
Calls for stripping Sumo Power’s energy licence & compensation for those wrongly disconnected
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...
Improving the effectiveness of the consumer guarantee and supplier indemnification provisions under the Australian Consumer Law
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...
Inhumane energy disconnections must end: $500K Sumo Power fine
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...
Banking Code Compliance Priorities 2022-23
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...
Quality of financial advice review–Draft Terms of Reference
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)....
Hayne Royal Commission findings on conflicted remuneration forgotten by Federal Government in long-awaited review
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...
ASIC Consultation Paper 354: Relief for simple arrangements following a hardship notice
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...
Product intervention orders in credit: A joint submission
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...
Time to finally end the harm done by Cigno loans
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 submission on Buy Now Pay Later to the UK Woolard Review
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...
Australian consumer groups warn UK Government against industry “self-regulation” of Buy Now Pay Later
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...
Consumer protections and the Post-2025 Distributed Energy Resources Implementation Plan
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...
Privacy Act Review – Discussion Paper our submission
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...
Banks should take more responsibility for scams
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...
Masa Tawalbeh: Law student and intern at Consumer Action
"Every time I work with someone at CALC, I truly get the sense that they care about my progress..."...
Joint Consumer Submission to Regional Banking Taskforce
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...
Submission: Compensation Scheme of Last Resort and Financial Accountability Regime
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 to New Zealand Government inquiry into buy-now pay-later
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...
Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy: Our submission
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...
Tougher consumer protections at core of payments reform welcomed
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...
Evaluation of Consumer Action’s Worker Advice Service
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 time is now”: Consumer groups urge banks to implement key code review recommendations
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...
Our comments on the Telecommunications Reform Bill
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...
Payment difficulty framework implementation review: feedback on key review questions
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...
Consumer advocates welcome recommendation for stricter controls of credit funded gambling online
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...
Presentation to Parliamentary inquiry on improving corporate engagement with First Nations consumers
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 groups call for new ombudsman to ‘prune’ lemon cars
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....
Victorian pre-Budget submission 2022-23
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...
Our Impact 2020-21: Improving laws, fighting shonky businesses, helping people
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...
Review of the Banking Code Compliance Committee: Our response to the Interim Report
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)...
COVID, scams and growing risks: Why we need consumer protections with teeth
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...
‘Time for a change’: Why Megan became a financial counsellor
Megan Goodwin is a financial counsellor who joined Consumer Action at the end of 2020....
Comment on the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman new Terms of Reference
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...
Buy now pay later surcharge ‘reveal’ a win for consumers and retailers
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...
PODCAST: Katia Sanderson on impact and why it is important
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...
Victorian Default Offer 2022
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...
Review of the ABA Banking Code of Practice –response to Interim Report
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...
Consumers win as long-awaited financial services sector reforms commence
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...
15 consumer groups and professional associations call for stronger compensation scheme
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...
The Life Insurance Code final round of consultation
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...
Regional Telecommunications Review: Access and affordability in regional, rural and remote Indigenous communities
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...
Consultation on Owners Corporations Amendment Regulations 2021
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...
Supporting South Australian Council of Social Service’s submission to the Remote Area Energy Supply Scheme Issues Paper
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...
Scam losses are increasing dramatically- what should be done?
Opinion piece by Gerard Brody, CEO Consumer Action As more and more people contact Consumer Action Law Centre regarding scam losses, and increasingly large losses, I've been thinking about the adequa...