Trial HSC- consumer evidence

Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)

Covers most areas of the market, including:

• product safety and labelling

• unfair market practices

• price monitoring

• industry codes

• industry regulation

• mergers and acquisitions

Its purpose is to enhance the welfare of Australians by promoting fair trading and compeititon, and through the provision of consumer protections.

• Replaced inconsistent state and territory legislations

the Australian Consumer Law

Formally the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) sch 2.
Deals with:

• misleading or deceptive conduct

• unconscionable conduct

• unfair practices

• conditions and warranties

• product safety and information

• liability of manufacturers for goods with safety defects

• country of origin representation

Treasury Laws Amendment (Acquisition as Consumer — Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2020 (Cth)

• Amended the definition of ‘consumer’ by increasing the monetary threshold from $40,000 to $100,000

• Responsive to decades of inflation

• Meeting society’s needs

  • increasing the threshhold allowed the rule of law to continue to be upheld

Review of AI and the Australian Consumer Law (2025)

• The protections that the ACL provides are ‘generally well adapted’ to address the risks of AI enabled goods and services.

  • Protections are ‘similar, and in soem cases enhanced’ compared to those in the EU, UK and Singapore.

Temu approved for ACCC safety pledge despite denying liability for unsafe products (ABC News, 2026)

• Temu signed up for Australian Product Safety Pledge despite denying liability for unsafe products

• A 10-yo suffered burns from a hoodie bought off there

• Shows struggle for legal system to enforce safety standards, particularly when considering online international stores such as Temu.

gives people confidence to try artificial intelligence, knowing the consumer laws still protect them

Quote by federal MP Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury (2025)

• He also said that ‘Artificial intelligence should not feel like the wild west’

• Talking about how these new technologies must be regulated to ensure that consumers’ rights are protected with rapidly changing software

  • so that justice can be achieved

Section 18

Section of the Australian Consumer law that outlaws misleading or deceptive conduct.

Part 1 of the section states:

• A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive.

  • The test for misleading and deceptive conudct is purely objective: whether the conduct is likely to lead an ordinary consumer into error

ACCC v Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd [2026] FCA 598

• Coles temporarily increased the price of each product by at least 15% for a short period of time, before placing it on a ‘Down Down’ promotion despite the price being higher or the same as the regular price

• The Court found that ‘down down’ promotions on 13 products were false and misleading

• Shows the effectiveness of the law in tackling issues surrounding deceptive and misleading conduct

• Shows enforceability considering big companies such as coles

Misleading conduct? So what! (University of Melbourne, 2018)

• Highlights how it is almost impossible to prove ‘deceptive’ conduct against large, modern companies, becasuse of the need to show deliberate dishonesty and knowledge on the part of the company’s directors.

  • This has a significant impact, as big companies often do not suffer the same impact to their reputation for misleading conduct. Often the remediation fees are less than the amount profited off of this misleading conduct.

Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Act 2026 (Cth)

• One thing it does is Doubles penalties for false or misleading conduct (to a maximum of $100 million per offence)

• Off the back of a five-fold increase already in 2022

• Shows government’s responsiveness to concerns over penalties’ effect on big companies, allowing justice to better be achieved.

(Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, 2023)

81% of social media influences reviewed by the ACCC were found to be making posts that could contain potentially misleading advertising, including not disclosing brand relationships or disclosing them using vague and confusing language. |

• Limited enforceability as influencers are using rapidly changing methods of marketing

• Shows that the law can struggle to keep up, especially in regards to modern technology

  • Something harder to regulate than simply big corporations

Part 2-3

Part of the Australian Consumer Law that outlines unfair contract terms

• Dictates that a term in a ‘standard form consumer contract’ is void if it creates a significant imbalance in rights, is not reasonably necessary to protect legitimate business interests, and causes detriment

• When a term in a standard form contract is unfair, it used to be declared void and no penalty would apply

Contracts Review Act 1980 (NSW)

• Gives courts the power to refuse to enforce, vary, or declare void any contract found to be "unjust" at the time it was made

• A powerful method for consumer protection that enables the judicial system to override the traditional principle that all signed agreements must be strictly performed.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission v PayPal Australia Pty Limited [2024] FCA 762

• PayPal included a ‘Fee Error Term" in over 600,000 small business contracts, requiring users to report overcharging errors within 60 days or permanently forfeit the funds.

• Federal Court found that this limit is an unfair contract term because it created a significant imbalance in rights

• Demonstrates:

  • Resource efficiency (ASIC acting on behalf of over 600,000 users)

  • Protection of individual rights

  • Application of the rule of law (big company such as paypal)

HOWEVER, there was no penalty in this case, as the reference period for the contract term was right before unfair contract reforms contained in the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better Prices) Act 2022 (Cth) took effect in Novermber 9, 2023

Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better Prices) Act 2022 (Cth)

• Amendment the Australian Consumer Law and ASIC regulations by introducing penalties relating to using unfair contract terms in standard form contracts

• These penalties apply even just for proposing an unfair term in a standard form contract.

How the unfair contract terms regime is impacting the Australian construction industry (Pinsent Masons, 2026)

• Highlights that the construction industry faced initial uncertainty when dealing with the new legislation of the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better Prices) Act 2022 (Cth)

• Wide-ranging reforms left some sectors scrambling to reform to avoid getting in legal trouble

• However, sectors like the construction industry have been untouched so far by the new legislation

Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd v Amadio [1983] HCA 14

• set a precedent that unjust contracts can be rescinded by the courts if a dominant party knowingly takes advantage of a weaker party’s direct vulnerability

• Shows that common law achieves justice, but is slow and inefficient

  • considering that common law is entirely reactive,