Division
Matthew Canavan I rise to give qualified, if you like, support to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026. We do think there is a need for action here on certain unfair behaviours in the marketplace, and I'll come to the details, but particularly things like subscription traps and drip feed pricing. These things are potentially covered by these changes. On the Liberal and National side, we do support strong consumer protections and have always had a proud history of doing so. However, as I said, there are some qualifiers here that I'll go through this morning, because we think it's very important that changes like this are clearly made so that, of course, the courts can interpret them clearly but more importantly, perhaps, so that businesses know the environment they're operating in, especially small businesses, who don't have and shouldn't have to seek expensive legal advice every time they just want to go about their business. As I said, there is an issue here that we are willing to work with the government on to see some change. As I indicated, the Liberal and National parties have long supported strong consumer protections in our law. We were strong advocates for somewhat of a predecessor to this, the unfair contract terms legislation that passed around 15 years ago in this place. Then, when we were in government, we moved to extend that to protect small businesses as well from the imposition of unfair contract terms. They were things like long-form contracts that hid terms and conditions in it and 'take it or leave it' type contract arrangements—things that would provide some protection for small businesses. This bill here seeks to move further, quite substantial amendments, which would effectively see the prohibition of unfair conduct more fully—that is, unfair trading, not just unfair contract terms per se. The issue here that should be properly discussed and responded to, hopefully, by the government is exactly what is mea
Senate, 2026-07-01. negative: ayes 20, noes 30.
Question
Matthew Canavan I rise to give qualified, if you like, support to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026. We do think there is a need for action here on certain unfair behaviours in the marketplace, and I'll come to the details, but particularly things like subscription traps and drip feed pricing. These things are potentially covered by these changes. On the Liberal and National side, we do support strong consumer protections and have always had a proud history of doing so. However, as I said, there are some qualifiers here that I'll go through this morning, because we think it's very important that changes like this are clearly made so that, of course, the courts can interpret them clearly but more importantly, perhaps, so that businesses know the environment they're operating in, especially small businesses, who don't have and shouldn't have to seek expensive legal advice every time they just want to go about their business. As I said, there is an issue here that we are willing to work with the government on to see some change. As I indicated, the Liberal and National parties have long supported strong consumer protections in our law. We were strong advocates for somewhat of a predecessor to this, the unfair contract terms legislation that passed around 15 years ago in this place. Then, when we were in government, we moved to extend that to protect small businesses as well from the imposition of unfair contract terms. They were things like long-form contracts that hid terms and conditions in it and 'take it or leave it' type contract arrangements—things that would provide some protection for small businesses. This bill here seeks to move further, quite substantial amendments, which would effectively see the prohibition of unfair conduct more fully—that is, unfair trading, not just unfair contract terms per se. The issue here that should be properly discussed and responded to, hopefully, by the government is exactly what is mea
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