Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Most Australians know what it feels like to keep a close eye on the household budget and make careful choices about where every dollar goes. We know that today in Griffith there is a parent comparing the cost of school shoes, groceries and sports fees before payday; a student looking for a cheaper phone plan between shifts; an older Australian checking direct debits on a fixed income; and a small-business owner reviewing every subscription service charge and renewal notice. People in my community and across Australia are doing the sensible thing—comparing prices, reading the details, considering their choices and trying to make good decisions for themselves, their families and their companies.

But all too often the companies and systems they're dealing with aren't equally as fair. A price that seems okay at first becomes more expensive at the final stage of the payment, a free trial unexpectedly turns into a paid subscription and cancelling something that should be easy becomes complicated, with run-around tactics, repeated prompts and pointless difficulties. These aren't just annoying; they are costing people money, time, effort and faith. When people are already dealing with work, family, bills, appointments and everything else, they shouldn't have to spend their free time battling systems that are deliberately designed to try and exhaust them.

That is why this bill, the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026, is important. It restores fairness to everyday purchases by ensuring people know the true price before committing, understand the conditions of something before they agree to it and can leave a service without being endlessly redirected. It also supports the many businesses that already are honest and respectful to customers. Australians shouldn't have to be experts in the small print to be able to be treated well.

By amending the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, this bill strengthens our Australian consumer law by banning unfair trading practices generally, with specific changes for unfair subscriptions and improved protections against drip pricing and similar charges that appear during a transaction. Fundamentally, this bill is about stopping unfair things that manipulate people's choices, distort what they decide and really harm them. This harm isn't only financial; it also includes wasted time, frustration and lost confidence from being forced through systems that aren't meant to be fair for consumers.

This is an overdue and necessary update to our consumer protection laws. For a long time, the Australian consumer law has correctly protected us from misleading information and unfair contracts. Those protections are important, but in today's digital age consumers face a different environment. Sometimes it's about what isn't said upfront on a website, sometimes it's a fee that only shows up at the very end of a purchasing process, sometimes it's a website's design that subtly pushes, pressures or prevents people in ways they don't even realise and sometimes it's where a cancellation option technically exists but is so difficult to find that people often find they just give up trying. I've actually had constituents mention to me in passing that they have found it easier to cancel their credit card and get a new one issued than to actually work out how to unsubscribe from some services.

This bill acknowledges that a consumer's choice can be undermined even without a direct lie. It acknowledges that people can be pushed into decisions that aren't in their favour by difficulties, confusion, being overloaded with information, pressure and, let's be frank, tiredness. These changes will stop business methods that depend on confusion, tricks in the design, unnecessary difficulties or people just being exhausted. They establish a standard that is both clear and fair and one that good businesses should be able to meet.

One of the clearest examples of why this reform is needed is subscription traps. Subscriptions are now a huge part of life for both families and small businesses—streaming, music, meal boxes, fitness, kids' learning software, cloud storage, news and so much more. Small businesses use them daily for accounting, wages, booking, point of sale, website hosting, email, rosters and delivery. They're useful and flexible and can be good value. But all too often these subscriptions depend on people forgetting, missing a renewal date or finding it hard to cancel. Someone might start a free trial intending to cancel if it's not suitable. But then they forget the reminder, the trial finishes and the money is taken. For some households, this might be a small annoying charge. For others, it could be the difference between being okay financially and going over budget. For a small business it could mean paying for software, booking, delivery, wages or marketing they're not using at a time when every expense is important.

Then comes the second frustration—trying to cancel. I know every single member in this chamber here this evening has had this frustration. Something that may have taken seconds to sign up for shouldn't take half an afternoon to stop. People shouldn't have to search through many account pages, be shown lots of warnings and offers to stay, or have to phone during work hours when they signed up quite simply online. If you can join with a few clicks, you should be able to leave with a few clicks too. You should be told exactly when a free trial ends, when you'll be charged, how your subscription will automatically renew and, crucially, how to cancel it without being endlessly passed around different departments.

The Consumer Policy Research Centre, the CPRC, has been looking closely at the problems caused by these subscription traps, and their research shows that three in four Australians who have subscriptions have had a bad experience trying to get rid of one. Half of those people spent longer than they intended simply cancelling, one in three felt pressured to keep it and one in 10 just gave up and continued paying for something they didn't even want.

The latest estimates are that these traps are costing Australians around $46 million each year, which is a national price tag for the little, sneaky, irritating and unexpected charges many of us see on our bills. These numbers, of course, represent real people. Think of the parent, up late after the kids are in bed, hunting for the cancel button or the student who signed up for a trial during an exam period and missed the renewal date. Consider the older Australian unsure if a pop-up is actually telling them something or attempting to frighten them into remaining a subscriber. People who are busy, careful with their money and tired are being made to deal with deliberately confusing systems.

The CPRC's research also shows us that 90 per cent of Australians would use the same company again if cancelling were fast and simple. That's a key point in this discussion, as treating people decently isn't against what businesses should do; it's simply good for business. People remember how they're treated when they finish with a company—whether their time was valued, the details were clear and the processes were honest. This bill makes companies reveal all the important details of a subscription at the time of signing up, send reminders at specific points during the subscription and make sure there's a really easy, obvious way to cancel.

This bill also tackles drip pricing, which is a familiar frustration for many Australians. You find a price online, it looks okay, you begin to buy and you fill in your details. You choose your date, seat, room, delivery method or ticket. Then, right at the end of the payment process, hidden additional costs are added to the cart: transaction fees, booking fees, service fees and processing fees. The final cost is now significantly different to the price you were initially shown. At this stage, you might feel you've come too far to stop. You've spent time comparing and filling in your details. You may be buying something with a deadline—tickets for your children, travel for a family event—or making plans around work and child care. The true price should have been stated at the very beginning. Transparent pricing is vital for proper competition.

If prices aren't clear to begin with, people can't compare them properly, and, if people can't compare them properly, the market doesn't function as it should. This bill makes it harder to use drip pricing and other charges added at the transaction stage by requiring all transaction based charges to be shown with the original price if they can be calculated at that point or an explanation of how the charge will be worked out if it can't be worked out in advance. Because of this, Australians will be in a better position to see the full cost earlier on, make a proper comparison, decide if they want to go ahead and make a choice with more confidence and all of the information.

This change is also about helping good businesses. Small businesses in our communities work hard for every customer. They understand that how people see them matters and that trust is built up over time through being fair with prices, communicating clearly and offering respectful service. They don't want to be forced into using underhanded tactics simply because others are. Being upfront shouldn't mean they lose out to competitors who use hidden fees, confusing websites or extra steps to make things difficult.

This bill creates a more equal playing field. It says that businesses should win customers by offering better products, better service and better value, not by making it harder for people to work out what they're actually buying. This is good for customers, good for businesses, good for competition and good for how much we achieve as a country. When people are confident in the marketplace, they're more willing to be involved; when they can compare easily, the best businesses can get customers on their own merits; and when unfair practices are discouraged, businesses have a greater reason to come up with new ideas to improve and to compete fairly.

This bill is not about stopping businesses from advertising, promoting their products or competing strongly. Businesses should absolutely be able to explain why their product is good value, why their service is useful and why a customer might choose them, but there is a difference between persuasion and manipulation. There is a difference between encouraging a customer and trapping a customer. There is a difference between making a sale and designing a process that makes it harder for someone to make a free and informed choice. This bill deals with conduct that crosses that line. These new rules are backed by real consequences, because a right is only meaningful if it can be enforced.

This bill aligns penalties for contraventions of these new unfair trading subscription and drip-pricing provisions with the existing civil penalty settings under the Australian Consumer Law. That sends a clear message: consumer harm cannot be treated as a cost of doing business, and fairness cannot be optional. We have also taken a sensible approach to implementation, with these changes coming into effect on 1 July next year, giving businesses the appropriate time to understand their obligations and to adjust their practices. This bill also provides for a review of the new measures within two years of commencement, which will help ensure the protections are operating as intended. That is a balanced approach and gives businesses time to prepare while making the direction clear.

While this bill focuses mainly on consumer protections, unfair trading practices can affect small businesses and franchisees too. Many small businesses deal with larger suppliers, platforms, landlords and franchisors. They can face information imbalances, bargaining pressures and systems that are difficult to challenge. That is why consultation on extending protections to small businesses is important. We have already commenced targeted consultations on extending protection from unfair trading practices to small businesses and franchisees and are considering whether further steps are appropriate in the financial services sector. Small businesses are integral to my community of Griffith. They sponsor our local sports teams, they support our school raffles, they employ locals, and they know their customers by name. They deserve fair treatment too, and the principle should remain at the centre of these ongoing consultations.

Seventeen leading consumer groups welcomed the introduction of this bill. The Consumer Policy Research Centre has described a ban on unfair business practices as the missing part of Australian consumer law. CHOICE has put the competition point clearly: businesses should compete on price and quality, not by manipulating or distorting the choices that people make. The Consumer Action Law Centre has said these reforms have the potential to transform the consumer experience away from harm and towards real fairness. That support is important because these organisations see the real-world consequences of unfair practices. They hear from people who are dealing with financial stress, confusing contracts, hidden fees, high-pressure sales tactics and systems that make it harder to act in their own interests.

These reforms are about treating people fairly in the ordinary decisions they make every day. They recognise the time people spend comparing prices, checking terms and managing household budgets, especially when the cost of living is already stretching families and small businesses. When someone compares prices, they should be able to trust that the first price they see is not hiding mandatory fees. When they sign up for a trial, they should be clearly told when it ends, what it will cost and how they can cancel, and, when they decide a service is no longer right for them, they should be able to leave without being sent in circles. That standard is good for customers, but it is also good for the many businesses that are already doing the right thing.

A business that's upfront about its practices and its prices and that's clear about its terms and respectful of its customers should not be disadvantaged by competitors who rely on confusion and on hidden costs. Most people are simply trying to make good decisions for themselves and for their families. They are trying to manage their money, support their children, keep their small businesses running and get through the week with a little less stress and a little more certainty. Our consumer laws should support them in that.

This bill introduces an economy-wide prohibition on unfair trading practices. It tackles those subscription traps. It tackles drip pricing, and it strengthens consumer protections for the way Australians buy, compare and subscribe today. People in our community are working hard. They are budgeting carefully, and they're making thoughtful choices every day. Our consumer laws should meet them with the same honesty and the same fairness.

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