Establishing a Compensation Scheme of Last Resort

Consumer groups have made a joint submission to the Treasury’s Discussion Paper, Implementing Royal Commission Recommendation 7.1 – Establishing a Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (December 2019). T...

RBA Review of Retail Payments Regulation

The payments landscape has changed rapidly since the RBA’s last review of retail payment systems five years ago. The emergence of new payment schemes, such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) has skewed the...

Making the insurance claims process fair

From a consumer perspective, claims handling is the most critical part of the insurance process, and one of the most problematic. Too often, the claims process is arduous, lengthy and unfair. In ou...

All Victorians deserve access to fair energy pricing

Since its implementation on 1 July 2019, the Victorian Default Offer (VDO) has given more Victorian energy users access to fairer pricing for their essential electricity services. In our comment to...

Energy compliance and performance reporting guideline

Monitoring is only as effective as the information gathered. In our submission to the Essential Services Commission (ESC) Compliance and Performance Reporting Guideline updated to include new entit...

ASIC Enforcement Review

In our joint response to exposure draft legislation implementing certain aspects of the ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce (ERT) Final Report, Consumer Action and Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financi...
Submission: Inquiry into credit and financial services targeted at Australians at risk of financial hardship

Reforming the sale of add-on insurance

Seven leading consumer groups commented on The Treasury’s Reforms to the sale of add on insurance: Proposal Paper: Consumer Action Law Centre Financial Rights Legal Centre CHOICE Consume...

Looking after the needs of Victorian energy consumers

The Energy & Water Ombudsman Victoria (EWOV) plays an important role in ensuring Victorian households have ongoing access to fair outcomes in relation to the provision of essential energy and wate...

Preparing vulnerable Victorians for electricity outages

Consumers rely on energy distribution businesses to ensure a consistent supply of their essential electricity services.  It is important that these businesses are regulated effectively so that consist...
Submission: Telecommunications Consumer Safeguards Review Part A – Consumer Redress and Complaints Handling

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...