Consumer law reform


In August 2008, The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs agreed to adopt a new national consumer law – rolling nine laws into one. The new law will be based on the current consumer protection provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) and incorporate some amendments from existing state and territory legislation.

ANRA would like to see Australia’s consumer protection laws be made more consistent. As it stands, the framework places an unacceptable burden on large retailers which impacts on productivity, profitability and consumer experience. The Productivity Commission estimates that reform of consumer protection regulation could save the community up to $4.5 billion.   

Australia has a national approach to competition through the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and ANRA believes there should be uniformity across other consumer policy areas.  

The greatest challenge to the sector is inconsistency between jurisdictions, for example, some states like Western Australia require businesses to have a license to sell a dirt bike, while others do not. Some states require knives and spray paint cans to be locked in a certain way, whereas in other states there are no restrictions. For businesses operating across two or more states, these conflicting standards create red tape nightmares.

Read the ANRA Consumer policy framework submission.