Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

The government’s position is that Senator Xenophon’s proposed amendment is unnecessary and would not add anything to the provision. What the original, government amendment seeks to do is clarify that an individual party to a contract, rather than a regulator only, has standing to apply to a court for the declaration that a contract term is unfair. At the Commonwealth level, this standing is already granted by the federal courts act 1996. However, this amendment is necessary to ensure that individuals can access state courts and tribunals under the applied Australian consumer law.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.