Insurance code enforceability welcomed but delays and watering down protections a concern

Consumer groups including the Financial Rights Legal Centre, Financial Counselling Australia and the Consumer Action Law Centre, have welcomed the Insurance Council’s announcement that they will inclu...

May 30, 2025

Stronger consumer protections needed to make our marketplace fairer

The two major consumer protections announced today -the ban on unfair trading and consultation on penalties for breaches by traders and service providers of the consumer guarantees under the Australia...

October 16, 2024

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...

February 3, 2022

Strengthening protections against unfair contract terms: Comments on Treasury exposure draft legislation

This joint submission contains feedback on Treasury’s proposed reforms to unfair contract term (UCT) protections for consumers and small businesses from Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Rights Le...

September 23, 2021

Our concerns about proposed changes to the governance standards for registered charities

Our submission to the Charities Consultation @Treasury.gov.au expresses our concerns about proposed changes to the governance standards for registered charities. We consider the proposed changes ar...

March 18, 2021

Regulator reveals telcos failing to do proper credit checks 

The telco regulator has released worrying findings from its mystery shopping study into companies' credit assessments today.  The study released today by the Australian Communications and Media Aut...

June 30, 2020

Treasury consultation: Enhancements to Unfair Contract Term Protections

Consumer Action has provided a joint submission to Treasury's consultation on Enhancements to Unfair Contract Term (UCT) Protections. Nearly a decade of the current UCT legislative regime has not e...

April 6, 2020

Consumer advocates welcome Act implementing three key Banking Royal Commission recommendations

Today the Government passed the first omnibus bill in the wake of the Banking Royal Commission, which consumer advocates say will help address long-standing problems with unfair insurance contracts, f...

February 6, 2020

20,000 Australians demand the end of unfair insurance: Canberra

“Stand up to the insurance lobby” - that’s the message of leading consumer groups as they deliver signatures of over 20,000 Australians to Parliament House in Canberra. The groups anticipate the Fe...

November 25, 2019

The norm of fairness must be recognised

Our existing consumer protection framework has failed to prevent unfairness from becoming embedded in business practices. From unclear marketing, subscriptions that make cancellation difficult, to...

September 2, 2019

Closing the ‘unfair contract terms’ loophole for insurance – Exposure draft legislation

There is a big fairness problem in insurance. People often make insurance claims when they are at a low ebb, but they can face shocking outcomes when insurers rely on unfair terms in insurance contrac...

August 30, 2019

Submission: Easy and Transparent Trading Consultation Paper

The Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Easy and Transparent Trading Consultation Paper (the Consultation Paper). We have limited our comments to Se...

August 28, 2018

Submission: Extending unfair contract terms protections to insurance contracts

The case for extending unfair contract terms (UCT) laws to insurance contracts is clear. The insurance industry is virtually the only industry enjoying an exemption from the economy-wide UCT regime...

August 27, 2018

Media release: Now’s our chance to extend unfair contract term laws to insurance

Consumer Action Law Centre and Insurance Law Service have welcomed the introduction of a bill into Federal Parliament that, if passed, will mean that unfair contract term laws will be extended to gene...

June 26, 2013

Submission: Exposure Draft Insurance Contracts Amendment (Unfair Terms) Bill 2013

Consumer Action, the Insurance Law Service and Legal Aid New South Wales are broadly very supportive of the Exposure Draft Insurance Contracts Amendment (Unfair Terms) Bill 2013. Unfair contract term...

June 4, 2013

Media Release: Consumer group welcomes extension of unfair terms protections to insurance contracts

Consumer Action Law Centre has welcomed the announcement from Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury that unfair contract term laws will be extended to general insurance contracts. Protections against unf...

December 20, 2012

Submission: Unfair terms in insurance contracts – options paper

Consumer Action thanks the Government for seeking stakeholder input on addressing unfair terms in insurance contracts, facilitated by the publication of the Unfair terms in insurance contracts - Optio...

May 7, 2010