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Ministerial Council Meeting
8 May 2009

The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs (MCCA) held its twenty first meeting in Hobart on 8 May 2009.

View current and previous meeting Communiqué.

An Australian Consumer Law: Fair markets - Confident consumers 17 February 2009

The Standing Committee of Officials of Consumer Affairs (SCOCA), has developed an information and consultation paper entitled An Australian Consumer Law: Fair markets - Confident consumers. This Paper was released today by the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs, the Hon Chris Bowen MP.

On 2 October 2008 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a new consumer policy framework as proposed by the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs (MCCA), including a new national consumer law based on the provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA) including a new provision to regulate unfair contract terms as well as enhanced enforcement powers and redress mechanisms for consumers.

This information and consultation paper will inform the public about the reform process and about the detail of COAG’s agreed reforms (unfair contract terms, new penalties, enforcement powers and remedies, and redress). The paper also outlines suggestions as to how the TPA could be augmented, if appropriate, by incorporating additional provisions based on best practice from state and territory legislation, for example, door-to-door trading or telemarketing.

Interested parties are invited to submit comments in response to the Paper. Submissions will be publicly available unless marked 'in‑confidence'. For accessibility reasons, please submit responses sent via email in a Word or RTF format. An additional PDF version may also be submitted.

Submission closing date: Tuesday 17 March 2009.

Address written submissions to:

SCOCA Australian Consumer Law Consultation
Competition and Consumer Policy Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600

Email: australianconsumerlaw@treasury.gov.au

Fax: (02) 6263 3964

Responsible Lending Practices Consumer Credit Cards

The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs has released a consultation Regulatory Impact Statement on Responsible Lending Practices in Relation to Consumer Credit Cards.

The Paper discusses options to assist consumer choice of card products and protect consumers from lending practices which provide continuing credit at levels which cannot be repaid without substantial hardship.

The paper can be downloaded from the NSW Office of Fair Trading website.

Submissions should be received no later than 3 October 2008.

National Finance Broking Bill

The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs has released the Exposure Draft Finance Broking Bill 2007 for public comment.  The Bill outlines a scheme for the national regulation of finance and mortgage brokers that will impose entry requirements, mandatory external dispute resolution scheme membership and enhanced consumer protection provisions.

The invitation to comment and the exposure draft bill are available for review.

Regulation of Residential Tenancy Databases

The Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs and the Standing Committee of Attorneys General have agreed to release the Report on Residential Tenancy Databases and the Regulatory Impact Statement.  Ministers have agreed to the development by the states and territories of uniform legislation for residential tenancy databases.  A national approach to the regulation of residential tenancy databases will provide greater certainty for tenants, landlords, agents and property managers.