Consumer Essay Plans - LCDMIs

AWARENESS (ACCC) - Consumer Redress and Remedies

• Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)

• Whistleout, 2025 - ‘Is your power bank safe? Recalls prompt ACCC warning’ - 17 recalls

SELF-HELP (COMPLAINTS TO SUPPLIERS AND MANUFACTURERS) - Consumer Redress and Remedies

• Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)

• Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW)

• Contracts Review Act 1980 (NSW)

• ABC, 2024 - ‘More grievance against prosthetic eye maker Jack McDonald’s work’

STATE GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS (NSW FAIR TRADING) - Consumer Redress and Remedies

• Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW)

• ABC, 2025 - ‘NSW government pushes back e-bike certification fine after industry ‘confusion’

STATE GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS (NSW OMBUDSMAN) - Consumer Redress and Remedies

• Ombudsman Act 1974 (NSW)

• ABC, 2024 - ‘NSW Ombudsman asked to investigate whether former government ignored legal advice to charge millions in merchant fees

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS (ASIC) - Consumer Redress and Remedies

• Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001 (Cth)

• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)

• ASIC v Westpac Banking Corporation (2018)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS (ACCC) - Consumer Redress and Remedies

• Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)

• ACCC v Visy Industries Pty Ltd (2007) - $36 million

• ACCC v Trivago (2020) - $44.7 million

NATIONAL CREDIT CODE (CREDIT) - Contemporary Issue

• National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009

• ABC, 2022 - ‘Charities, consumer groups launch campaign for better regulation of buy now, pay later services’ - $8000 debt

• ABC, 2023 ‘ANZ accused of irresponsible lending, experts warn risk of misrepresented loans grows as rates rise’

ASIC (CREDIT) - Contemporary Issue

• Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001 (Cth)

• ASIC v Westpac Banking Corporation (2018)

• ASIC v Kobelt (2019)

AFCA (CREDIT) - Contemporary Issue

• Australian Financial Complaints Authority Act 2018 (Cth)

• Broker Daily, 2015 - ‘Financial complaints ‘unacceptably high’, says AFCA - over 100,000 complaints in 2024-25

COMMON LAW PROTECTION (UNJUST CONTRACTS) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Johnson v Buttress (1936)

• Australian Knitting Mills v Grant (1936)

• Telstra (2017) - fined for acting unconscionably and breaching the ACL when staff signed up First Nations consumers to post-paid mobile contracts, even though they did not understand and could not afford the packages.

STATUTORY PROTECTION (UNJUST CONTRACTS) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Australian Consumer Law (ACL, 2011) - Section 25

• Contracts Review Act 1980 (NSW)

• Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW)

• ABC, 2025 - ‘Optus to face $100 million penalty for unconscionable conduct selling products to vulnerable customers’

STATUTORY PROTECTION (REGULATION OF MARKETING AND ADVERTISING) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Australian Consumer Law (ACL, 2011) - fines of up to $50,000,000 (s.29 and 35)

• Nurofen v ACCC (2016) - $6 million fine

• ACCC v Harvey Norman (2011) - infringement notice of $6,600

• ACCC V Samsung Electronics (2022) - $14 million fine for false, misleading, and deceptive representations about the water resistance of ‘Galaxy’ mobile phones

NON-STATUTORY CONTROLS (REGULATION OF MARKETING AND ADVERTISING) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Ad Standards - Advertising Standards Board (ASB) and Advertising Claims Board (ACB)

• ABC, 2024 - ‘What 2024’s most complained-about ads tells us about industry trends’ - 4000 complaints, reviewed 278 and upheld 88

• Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics 2012

SELF-REGULATION (OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Australian Medical Association

• ABC, 2023 - ‘Australian Medical Association calls for national regulations around AI in healthcare’

STATE-REGULATION (OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Motor Dealers and Repairers Act 2013 (NSW) - max penalty of $110,000 or 12-months jail

• Motor Dealers and Repairers Amendment (Miscellaneous) Regulation 2021

• Fair Trading NSW, 2022 - Anthony Lee Francis, Public Warning

GOVERNMENT PROTECTION (NEGLIGENCE) - Nature of Consumer Law

Breach of the duty of reasonable care owed - risk of harm was foreseeable, risk of harm was not insignificant, and a reasonable person would have taken precautions to avoid a breach.

• Australian Consumer Law (ACL, 2011)

  → ss.129-130 (safety warning notices), ss. 104-108 (compulsory safety standards), ss. 3-5 (compensation for consumers who suffer injury)

• Donoghue v Stevenson (1932)

PRODUCT SAFETY AUSTRALIA (NEGLIGENCE) - Nature of Consumer Law

• Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)

• ABC, 2025 - ‘City Beach hit with ACCC legal action for alleged sale of non-compliant products’

NON-LEGAL RESPONSE (MEDIA)

• ABC, 2016 - ‘Perth woman ‘badly burned’ after Thermomix kitchen appliance ‘bursts open’

CHANGING VALUES

• Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)