Financial Exclusion - Consumer Action Law Centre

Consumer advocates welcome proposed reforms to Government payment service

The Financial Rights Legal Centre, Mob Strong Debt Help, and Consumer Action Law Centre welcome the proposed reforms to Centrepay announced by Minister Bill Shorten this morning. These reforms include...

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Consumer groups welcome passing of buy now, pay later regulations

Key loophole in credit laws will be closed Consumer groups have welcomed the passing of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (BNPL Bill) through...

Our impact 2023-24: Fighting for a fairer marketplace in a cost-of-living crisis

We are delighted to publish our Impact Report 2023-24 which highlights what we’ve been doing over the past year working alongside consumers, national advocates and cross-sector stakeholders. The co...

AUSTRAC: Guidance on assisting customers who don’t have identification

This is a joint submission made on behalf of: •Consumer Action Law Centre •Financial Counselling Australia •Financial Rights Legal Centre •Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network •Mob Strong Deb...

Banking industry announcement a big first step in addressing scams

Consumer Action Law Centre has welcomed the scams safe accord announced by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) which has involved, for the first time...

Federal Court Grants Injunction to Protect Pawned Goods in Class Action against Pawnbroker, Taylors Business

The Federal Court has granted an injunction against pawnbroker, Taylors Business Pty Ltd (ACN 107 445 723) (Taylors Business) in class action proceedings filed by Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer...

The National Legal Assistance Partnership Review

The community legal sector’s work would not be possible without stable, indexed NLAP funding. This is a critical part of specialist community legal centres’ (CLC) baseline resourcing, now and into the...

Personal insolvency discussion paper 2023

Consumer Action Law Centre provides financial counselling assistance and legal advice to people at all stages of the insolvency process. We regularly speak to people who end up in unnecessary and cost...

In this cost-of-living crisis Telstra can do much better on hardship support

The vast majority of Telstra customers will pay $5 per month more on their internet bills following price increases announced this week. Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Stephanie Tonkin said a growi...

ANALYSIS: Addressing and Preventing Legal Need

Consumer Action seeks to be a reflective, impact-driven organisation that can adjust and refine our services to meet legal need. We have done significant work to conduct evaluations of our existing se...

Financial services legislation inquiry – Interim Report C

Consumer Action Law Centre, Consumers' Federation of Australia and Financial Rights Legal Centre have provided feedback on the proposals in the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Interim Repor...

Hundreds of thousands of telco customers cut off as 2.4 million Australians struggle to pay telco bills

Telco providers are far less likely than other essential services to provide hardship assistance to Australians when they find themselves in financial crisis and here’s the proof: last year 406,428 cu...

AFCA’s approach to claims for non-financial loss

Consumer Action is responding to the proposed amendments to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority’s (AFCA) approach to non-financial loss claims (Amended Approach). We generally support the go...

Exposure draft – consumer credit regulations

Consumer Action, and the various organisations from the Stop the Debt Trap Alliance, routinely advise and assist people who have multiple payday loans and/or consumer leases that they took on due to t...

ConsumerAction · "The best job I will ever have in my career..." Gerard Brody on his 10 years as Consumer Action CEO

PODCAST: “The best job I will ever have in my career,” Gerard Brody on his 10 years as Consumer Action CEO

PODCAST: In his last week as Consumer Action CEO, Gerard Brody sat down to reflect on some of his experiences at the centre. One of the most incredible aspects of Gerard's leadership is his calm and v...

ConsumerAction · Why funeral insurance is a crap product and what you can do about it

PODCAST: Why funeral insurance is a crap product and what you can do about it

Philippa Heir is Managing Lawyer at Consumer Action, she is an expert in all things insurance. She says, in short, that funeral insurance is a crap product and makes no sense. "There are a number o...

Robodebt Royal Commission: refer debt collection misconduct to the ACCC

Consumer Action has partnered with Financial Counselling Australia and Economic Justice Australia to make a submission to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. The submission asks the Roya...

Quality of Advice Review

People who seek financial advice, including in relation to insurance, deserve to have confidence that it will be high-quality and free from conflict of interest. Despite this, conflicts of interest co...

ConsumerAction · Hannah Dodd's advice for Consumer Action’s next Managing Lawyer 'be kind'

PODCAST: Hannah Dodd’s advice for Consumer Action’s next Managing Lawyer ‘be kind’

Hannah Dodd, Consumer Action's Managing Lawyer talks about her nearly five years at CALC, and what she is looking forward to in her new role at Australian Financial Complaints Authority. She talks...

“Time for the financial harms to stop”: Consumer groups urge Senate to quickly pass reforms on payday loans and consumer leases

Consumer Action is one of 20 community organisations strongly recommending that the consumer credit reforms in the Finance Sector Reform Bill (FSR Bill), relating to Small Amount Credit Contracts (SAC...

Submission to Senate Economics Committee: Financial Sector Reform Bill 2022 – consumer credit reforms

The submission, on behalf of 20 community organisations, recommends that the consumer credit reforms in the Finance Sector Reform Bill (FSR Bill) relating to small amount credit contracts and consumer...

ConsumerAction · Save Sorry Business Day of Action 3 August with Josephine Beckhurst

PODCAST: Josephine Beckhurst and the #SaveSorryBusiness Canberra Day of Action

Josephine Beckhurst is a Yorta Yorta woman from Barmah in Victoria's north. Josephine and her family are among the many thousands of First Nations Australians ripped off by Youpla/ACBF, the funeral in...

ConsumerAction · Dianne Dejanovic, Consumer Action's longest serving financial counsellor

PODCAST: Dianne Dejanovic, Consumer Action’s longest serving financial counsellor

Dianne Dejanovic worked for 13 years as a financial counsellor on the National Debt Helpline at Consumer Action. She has helped thousands of people during her time and made a massive contribution t...

Opinion: Victoria needs a fair default offer for household gas supply

Reports of gas bills to rise by $150 per annum adds unwanted pressure to Victorian household budgets, when inflationary pressures are already biting.* Over a long period, unfair market tactics have...

Youpla collapse to fuel ‘trauma and intergenerational debt’ for Indigenous families across Australia

A coalition of over 125 organisations has released an open letter to both major parties calling for urgent action to prevent more than ten thousand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families from...

The Australian Communication and Media Authority’s compliance priorities 2022-23

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...

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)....

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...

ConsumerAction · Katia Sanderson talks impact: What it is and why it is important

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...

Consumer issues in Victorian Aboriginal communities during 2020

A report Consumer Issues in Victorian Aboriginal Communities during 2020 published today by Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) uses quantit...

Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee’s Class Action Inquiry

Class actions provide Australians a valuable mechanism for accessing justice where systematic or repetitive conduct by the same party has caused similar harm to numerous individuals. Class actions als...

A joint submission to the Electricity Distribution Price Review (2022-2027 Victorian EDPR)

Affordable electricity remains critical for vulnerable Victorians and a lack of energy affordability denies people sufficient access to an essential service. Further, high energy costs are a major cau...

Australians urged to share their stories about financial hardship during COVID-19

Today, Consumer Action Law Centre has launched an online form to enable people to share their experiences of financial hardship during the Covid-19 emergency. The goal is to help track the severity an...

A little relief will go a long way for thousands struggling due to COVID-19

Widespread disruption caused by COVID-19 is being felt across Australia. It won’t be long before we have thousands of people trying to survive on a reduced income, worried about whether they can pay t...

New report reveals how irresponsible lenders are causing harm in Victorian Aboriginal communities

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) are launching a new report on how irresponsible lenders are causing harm in Victorian Aboriginal communit...

Consumer Issues in Victorian Aboriginal Communities: Integrated Practice Project Report 2020

‘Consumer issues in Victorian Aboriginal communities’ reports findings from Consumer Action Law Centre’s (Consumer Action) and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s (VALS) Integrated Practice proje...

Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector – Submission on Round 4 Hearings (General)

Consumer Action Law Centre has published its submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector following the Round 4 hearings on issues affecting Aus...

Joint submission: Attorney-General’s Department Review of Financial Hardship Arrangements

Consumer advocates consider that any additional information permitted to be shared or held as part of the credit reporting system is inherently a further privacy intrusion and must be justified to be...

Submission: Reforms to strengthen penalties for corporate and financial sector misconduct – Draft Legislation

Review into the Australian Taxation Office’s use of Garnishee Notices

We reject the legal status quo which enables garnishee orders issued prior to bankruptcy to continue to garnish the wages of bankrupted individuals post-bankruptcy. As we understand it, garnishee ord...

Are we there yet? (the mysterious case of the vanishing SACC Bill)

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An agenda for ageing in Victoria

Currently, there is no plan for the increased longevity and diversity of Victoria’s population. The result is a fragmented approach to policy and programs relating to older people between the ages of...

Drought legal assistance scoping project – Final report

Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) contracted Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) to undertake a detailed scoping and service model development project for Drought Legal Assistance for Victoria. This...

Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector – Consumer Action submission part 2

Consumer Action Law Centre has published part 2 of its submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector today. The submission draws on the experienc...

Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector – Consumer Action submission part 1

Consumer Action Law Centre has published part 1 of its initial submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Sector today. The submission draws on the e...

Submission: Paper Billing Consultation Paper

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) is pleased to make this submission in response to the Paper Billing Consultation Paper (Consultation Paper). Consumer Action supports Option 2 in the Co...

Inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017: Submission

Consumer Action joins with FamilyCare Shepparton to make this submission. Shepparton is the only Victorian community that is currently subject to income management, a policy similar to the Cashless De...

EDR Review – Treasury Laws Amendment (External Dispute Resolution) Bill and Regulations 2017 exposure draft

Consumer advocates welcome the move to a one-stop shop external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme for all disputes in the financial system. Read the full submission here [PDF]...

Victoria Legal Aid, Means Test Review, Options Paper – submission

Consumer Action has made a submission to the Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) Means Test Review. The submission strongly supports the introduction of a public interest exemption to the VLA means test. To be...

Submission: Consumer Property Law Review—Sale of land and business: options for reform

Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) is pleased to make this submission in response to Consumer Affairs Victoria's Sale of land and business: options for reform (Options Paper), as part of the...

Design, scope, cost-benefit analysis, contracts awarded and implementation associated with the Better Management of the Social Welfare System initiative

The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) is pleased to provide a submission to the Inquiry on the Design, scope, cost-benefit analysis, contracts awarded and implementation associated with the...

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