In a fast‑changing economy, consumer trust isn't just a virtue - it's a necessity. Whether you're buying a fridge, downloading an app or applying for a mortgage, you're taking a leap of faith that the product will do what it claims, the terms will be fair, and someone will listen if things go wrong.
Trust is the invisible infrastructure of the modern marketplace. Strip it away, and what remains is a minefield of confusion, caution and exploitation. When people stop believing the system works for them, they disengage. And when bad actors go unchallenged, good businesses suffer too.
Australia has made real strides in building trust through strong consumer protection. The Australian Consumer Law, introduced in 2011, brought together a tangle of federal, state and territory rules into a single national framework. Since then, protections have expanded - unfair contract terms are now banned, consumer guarantees are better enforced and regulators have more tools to hold businesses to account.
But markets don't stand still. And nor can our laws.
Today, technology has transformed the way we live and shop. Global platforms dominate online commerce. Artificial intelligence increasingly determines what ads we see, what prices we're offered, even which products we're shown in the first place. With these advances come opportunities - but also new risks.
AI, for all its potential, raises serious questions for consumer protection. What happens when a chatbot gives dangerously wrong advice? When a recommendation algorithm steers vulnerable users toward harmful content? Or when a company uses machine learning to nudge people into purchases they later regret?
That's why the Australian Government is working to ensure our legal frameworks keep pace with our technological ones. We're reviewing how AI‑enabled products and services are regulated, with a view to ensuring transparency, accountability and fairness.
We're also introducing civil penalties for breaches of consumer guarantees - because rights without consequences are just suggestions. We're improving the Unit Pricing Code, so shoppers can easily compare the real value of groceries. And we're rolling out a Scams Prevention Framework that places obligations on banks, telcos and digital platforms to detect and prevent scams, not just clean up after them.
Meanwhile, our regulators are stepping up enforcement in the sectors where trust is most fragile. With targeted government funding, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is focusing on competition and fair trading issues in the supermarket and retail sectors - including misleading pricing and abuse of market power. Its compliance priorities include tackling greenwashing, protecting vulnerable NDIS users and cracking down on manipulative digital practices.
Too often, the worst harms occur when companies grow too dominant - or operate in spaces where oversight is weak.
Take the example of a remote Indigenous community, where an elderly woman walked into a Telstra store seeking a basic mobile phone. She walked out with multiple postpaid contracts she didn't understand and monthly bills she couldn't afford. The Federal Court later fined Telstra $50 million for unconscionable conduct.
In another case, Meta subsidiaries were fined $20 million after marketing an app that claimed to protect user data - while secretly harvesting it.
Apple was fined $9 million for telling customers they weren't eligible for repairs after using third‑party technicians - a claim that flew in the face of Australian law.
And when Hungry Jack's included a toy in a children's meal without the required button battery warning, it was penalised for breaching safety standards. These rules exist for a reason: to protect families from serious harm.
These aren't fringe operators. They're household names. And their conduct wasn't accidental. It was made possible by market power, information asymmetry and the assumption that no one was watching.
Consumer protection is sometimes seen as a sideline to 'serious' economic reform. But in truth, it's central to how modern economies function. When markets reward deception, not value; when fine print outweighs fairness; when firms grow too dominant to care - the entire system suffers.
That's why competition policy and consumer policy must work hand in hand. A competitive market isn't just about lower prices. It's about higher standards. It's about firms knowing they'll lose customers if they don't do the right thing - and that regulators will step in if they cross the line.
This is particularly urgent in the digital economy. As AI systems become more powerful, the risk of opaque decisions, embedded bias and automated unfairness grows. Scams are becoming more sophisticated, with deepfakes and spoofed messages designed to exploit even the savvy. 'Dark patterns' - manipulative website designs that make it hard to cancel, return or say no - are becoming increasingly common.
Globalisation, too, has complicated enforcement. Many online platforms operate across jurisdictions, making redress harder and regulation slower.
To meet these challenges, we need laws that are modern, regulators that are empowered, and markets that reward ethical behaviour.
We also need cooperation. Consumer protection can't be achieved by government alone. It requires collaboration between regulators and researchers, businesses and advocates, technologists and policymakers. It means listening to real consumers, not just corporate lobbyists. It means designing systems that are built for trust - and proving worthy of that trust, again and again.
At its best, consumer protection doesn't just stop bad behaviour. It shapes the kind of economy we want to live in - one that rewards integrity, encourages innovation and treats fairness not as a luxury, but as a baseline.
In the end, every tap of a card, every 'I agree' clicked, is a small act of trust. Australians deserve to know that the system will live up to it.
