Australia: Consumer Law

ASIC's Report 838 reveals significant transparency gaps in motor vehicle insurance premium communications, finding that renewal documents often fail to explain price changes adequately and that over 30% of consumers who contacted their insurer successfully negotiated lower premiums. The report establishes clear expectations for better practice in pricing disclosures and signals continued regulatory scrutiny of insurance pricing practices.

Default offers in Australia's retail electricity market were designed to eliminate loyalty penalties and simplify plan comparisons, but how exactly do regulators calculate these price caps? The Australian Energy Regulator and Essential Services Commission now employ similar bottom-up methodologies that stack various cost components to determine what a prudent retailer would need to charge a representative customer.

A contractor agreement determines who pays when work goes wrong. Independent contractors carry their own commercial risk, unlike employees, so the agreement allocates that risk in detail. Liability commonly arises from breach of contract, intellectual property infringement, and breaches of confidentiality. Indemnities, liability caps and insurance requirements are the three tools that allocate it. Australian law puts limits on that allocation. Consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law apply automatically, and no contract can exclude them.

In this article, our experienced litigation lawyers explain when a contract variation is binding; whether emails, verbal agreements, or conduct can change a contract; when consideration or a deed may be required; and why authority and compliance with contractual procedures matter.

On 28 May 2026, the Treasury published stage 1 of its long-awaited package of laws and consultations to designate, implement and operationalise the Scams Prevention Framework (SPF).

On 7 April 2026, Treasury released a consultation paper seeking feedback on policy options to curb lead generation activity linked to financial products, with a view to better protecting consumers...

Silence can amount to misleading or deceptive conduct under Australian law where, in context, it creates or allows a false impression to persist.

Australia’s payment system has been the subject of a multi-pronged review with proposals for reform at various stages and across various aspects of Australia’s payments ecosystem.

In the month since the commencement of the Iran war, the initial impacts on fuel prices have spread to materials and labour affected by either the rise in transport costs or the rise in the cost of oil as an input in the manufacturing process.