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This submission is being jointly made by the Consumer Policy Research Centre and the following organisations:

Australian Communications Consumer Action Network
CHOICE
Consumer Action Law Centre
Consumer Credit Legal Service Western Australia
Consumers’ Federation of Australia
Energy Consumers Australia
Financial Counselling Australia
Financial Counselling Victoria
Financial Rights Legal Centre
Justice and Equity Centre
Queensland Consumers Association
Mob Strong Debt Help
National Seniors Australia
Super Consumers Australia
Way Forward
Western Australia Consumer Advocacy Network
Westjustice

The Federal Government has made an important commitment to legislate unfair trading. We see this as one of the most powerful consumer protections that will greatly benefit Australians.

Our strong recommendation is that the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 is passed by the Senate as soon as possible.

In addition, the Economics Legislation Committee should recommend that:
1. Section 28B of the Bill should be amended to include lead generation as an example of unfair conduct that may contravene the general prohibition. Lead generation should be defined as securing consumer contact information for sales purposes using obscure, complex or misleading mechanisms and/or failing to clearly disclose the main
purpose for collecting, using or sharing a consumer’s personal information.
2. the Federal Government also amend the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 with a mirror provision to ensure that unfair business practices cannot occur in financial services.

Australians have waited for over a decade for this reform that consumers in other jurisdictions have taken for granted for years. Similar jurisdictions, such as the UK, US and EU have had similar protections for their citizens for decades, in some cases, for over a century.

This reform is not ground-breaking, but it will shift how Australians are treated by businesses. The unfair trading prohibition will stop harmful practices that cost Australians time, money and their wellbeing.

Read the full submission (PDF).