Consumer and small business advocates will now have special powers to raise significant and systemic issues with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for investigation.
As part of its Better Competition election commitment, the Albanese Government is introducing legislation to establish a new designated complaints function within the ACCC.
Across a range of sectors - airlines, telecommunications, supermarkets - Australians have seen too many examples of consumers not getting a fair go. The same goes for small businesses - franchisees getting an unfair deal or cash flows suffering due to slow payments.
The new function will empower designated consumer and small business advocates to submit a complaint to the ACCC where they have evidence of a significant or systemic market issue affecting Australian consumers or small businesses.
Once a designated complaint is lodged, the ACCC will be required to consider and publicly respond to the complaint within 90 days. The ACCC must state what further action, if any, will be taken in response to the complaint.
