Class action supporters welcome Cash canning her dud class action plan

The Keep Corporations Honest campaign to save Australian class actions has welcomed statements by Attorney-General Michaelia Cash that the government will not pursue its agenda of weakening access to class to actions ahead of this year's federal election. Ms Cash had been under pressure from class action members and legal experts to drop her government's proposed changes, which would have seen funding sources for class actions dry up making many potential actions unviable. However, Keep Corporations Honest is now urging the Minister to go a step further and permanently discard the proposal. "The legislation proposed by Ms Cash was nothing more than scrappy vandalism against class actions," said KCH spokesperson Jan Saddler. "Small wonder that a broad spectrum of legal experts and community members vigorously opposed the proposals. Ms Cash's attempts to vilify those taking part in class actions as either dupes or vexatious irritants was particularly offensive. "Our campaign is extremely pleased to see that the Minister has been spooked off her destructive course of action — albeit temporarily. "Class actions are overwhelmingly a force for good and any responsible government should support them. Not only do they help everyday Australians to obtain justice when they have been ripped off by corporations and governments, they also keep the powerful looking over their shoulders. That's a good thing, not a hindrance. "We now call on Ms Cash to formally and permanently remove her government's support for these shambolic proposed class action changes."