By Stephanie Tonkin, CEO Consumer Action Law Centre (published in the Herald Sun, 18 March 2024) Last week, Scamwatch, our national body fighting scams and part of the Australian Competition and Co...
A coalition of advocacy groups, including Consumer Action Law Centre, CHOICE and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, have come out forcefully stating that customer reimbursement, pa...
Consumer Action Law Centre, CHOICE and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network have been conducting regular roundtables with scams victims and consumer organisations, to develop our resp...
Through our frontline services, we see widespread harm in the crypto market, and the urgent need for intervention. In this submission, we are responding to Treasury’s proposal paper Regulating Digi...
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) has filed a class action in the Federal Court of Australia against Taylors Business Pty Ltd. The lead plaintiff, a Victorian woman, represents herself and...
The latest figures released in the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s (TIO) 2023 Annual report show that the nation’s telcos are still not providing an acceptable standard of service in many key...
This submission is made on behalf of: • Consumer Action Law Centre • Financial Rights Legal Centre • Consumer Credit Legal Service (CCLS) • Financial Counselling Australia. Supporting and rep...
The success of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) in its Federal Court action against Cigno Pty Ltd (Cigno) and BHF Solutions Pty Ltd (BHF Solutions), is good news which we hop...
Tania Clarke, Acting CEO Consumer Action Law Centre Last year bank customers in the UK experienced a 17% drop in scam losses while in Australia, bank customers experienced a 62% increase. Between...
Consumer Action’s Acting CEO Tania Clarke has congratulated Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland for acting swiftly to address the growing list of concerns from consumer advocates and telco cu...
Consumer Action Acting CEO Tania Clarke says Minister for Communication Michelle Rowland should act now to implement tough new laws to clean up the telco industry. Ms Clarke’s call for action comes...
Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the standard draft decisions released by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) as part of the 2023 Water Price Rev...
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...
To date, we believe that the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) has been successful in achieving the policy objective of providing consumers unable or unwilling to engage in the market with a simple, trust...
By Stephanie Tonkin, CEO, Consumer Action Law Centre The big four banks are tipped to make record profits this financial year, with some analysts suggesting they will collectively rake in more th...
The crypto marketplace currently poses significant risk to consumers and there is a pressing need for adequate protections and safeguards. Consumer Action applauds the Government for its commitment...
Consumer Action CEO Stephanie Tonkin says Westpac’s announcement of a new verification system for payments and money transfer measures to new accounts are “…steps in the right direction to help stop t...
Effective enforcement action is a critical task of consumer protection regulators and essential to a well-functioning consumer market. In recent years, ASIC has completed a significant amount of meani...
An edited version of this opinion piece appeared in the Herald Sun 18 February, 2023 You’d be hard-pressed these days to find someone who hasn’t been the target of a scam. Whether it’s a fraudulent...
Australia’s banks should quickly introduce measures to stop scams, make their systems safer and reimburse victims or be made by Government to do so, says Consumer Action CEO Stephanie Tonkin. Ms Tonk...
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has announced it is introducing measures to strengthen its payment system that will make it harder for crooks to scam their customers. The measures called NameCheck and Cal...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) Consultation Paper on the review of the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) for 2023-24. On bal...
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) late fees and charges would be capped, and providers would be licensed and banned from making unsolicited offers of credit, under recommendations for proper regulation of the...
Consumer Action has joined with 22 other organisations as part of the "Close Lending Loopholes Alliance" to make a submission to Treasury on its Options Paper, Regulating Buy Now Pay Later in Australi...
Consumer Credit Legal Services (WA) Inc. (CCLSWA) has drafted these submissions on behalf of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) and its members. CFA is the peak body for consumer organisatio...
With Victorians wanting to play their part in carbon reduction, consumer protections for new energy products and services need to be enhanced. This submission to the Department of Environment Land...
Today we are delighted to publish our Impact Report 2021-22 which highlights our organisation’s achievements over the past year working for and with the people we help. Read about the many successe...
Opinion piece by Gerard Brody, CEO Consumer Action The massive data breach affecting up to 9.8 million Optus customers has shone a spotlight on what can be done to protect Australians from harm and...
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has today published updated and revised remediation guidance for financial firms with the goal of treating wronged customers fairer and ensur...
Australians who seek financial advice have the right to expect that the advice they receive will be independent, high quality and in their best interests. Poor financial advice has lasting impacts on...
Consumer Action has made a submission to the Essential Services Commission in relation to its Taxi Non-Cash Payment Surcharge Review 2022. The submission opposes the proposed methodology outlined i...
The announcement today from the Victorian Minister for Energy Lily D’Ambrosio banning embedded networks in new residential apartment buildings, and improving protections for existing networks,...
Consumer Action has welcomed a report released today from the Telecommunciations Industry Ombudsman (TIO) that reveals a high level of customer complaints about poor mobile services and the continued...
Key consumer and social service groups are welcoming the Federal Government’s announcement that the process of introducing better safeguards for buy now pay later (BNPL) and other credit products has...
Consumer Action Law Centre and WEstJustice Western Community Legal Centre are calling on the Victorian Government to make a solid commitment, ahead of the upcoming Victorian election in November, to i...
Key consumer and community groups are welcoming comments by the new Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, that the Government will move to regulate buy now pay later (BNPL). Minister Jone...
Consumer Action is calling for meaningful protections from scams to apply to businesses operating in the crypto sector. The call comes in a submission to the Treasury’s consultation paper Crypto as...
Consumer Action broadly supports the intention of the Government to introduce regulation to oversee the rapidly growing crypto asset environment. The crypto marketplace currently poses significant...
Consumer Action Law Centre welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Australian Energy Regulator’s (the AER) Issues Paper as part of its review of the retailer authorisation and exemption frameworks...
Consumer Action Law Centre has written to the Chairs and Managing Directors of the Victorian water corporations about the impending 2023 Water Price Review, urging them to prioritise affordability so...
Australian consumer groups have warned the USA’s chief consumer regulator, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), about major flaws in the self-regulation of buy now pay later (BNPL) product...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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)...