Policy
Engaged in multiple sectors, our team conducts rigorous consumer and policy research to uncover market failures and consumer harm. We actively collaborate with partners, leveraging national and international perspectives to identify and understand issues within markets. By openly sharing insights, we contribute to the creation of impactful policy solutions, fostering momentum for positive change and advocating for consumer welfare.
June 7, 2024
Australia has a major gap in its consumer law compared to the EU – in Australia there is no ban on unfair business practices.1 The EU has had a ban on unfair practices since 2005, allowing it to stop instances where companies treat customers unfairly, beyond misleading or lying to them.
April 17, 2024
Search is a service that connects consumers with information and, frequently, is a starting point for engaging with businesses or services. Accuracy matters yet increasingly people are presented with the most profitable answer for search services rather than the information they need.
April 15, 2024
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) inquiry into supermarkets in Australia is a welcome opportunity to uncover the specific practices that supermarkets undertake that harm consumers and competitive markets.
March 28, 2024
Each year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) collects data from more than 20,000 Australians in relation to their experiences of different types of fraud, including scams.
March 22, 2024
For the electric vehicle market to work well for all Australians, there need to be easy ways to have problems with faulty cars fixed and clear penalties for companies that fail to repeatedly offer repairs, refunds or replacements as required under Australian Consumer Law (ACL). Our research shows that complaints handling is not working effectively for people with faulty Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles and there is a high risk that existing processes will also poorly serve people with EVs.
March 20, 2024
In this submission we discuss how elements of AANA’s commendable green code could be strengthened. The key issues we focus on include the need for consumers to have meaningful information to be able to make direct comparisons about the products and services being advertised to them, through setting specific expectations of advertisers with respect to communicating supporting evidence to consumers. We outline extensive problems with trustmarks and self-certification schemes, the influence of imagery, and vague and obscure language in advertising featuring green claims.
February 9, 2024
Climate-related financial disclosures are essential to understand how businesses are managing climate risk and to compare efforts across entities. These new obligations should be broadened to apply to more businesses and capture more reporting requirements in time.
January 24, 2024
As part of the 2024-25 budget process, Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) requests the Federal Government to fund and support independent research into consumer policy issues. CPRC is a not-for-profit think tank that develops and champions ideas to make markets fairer for all Australian consumers. We are Australia’s only dedicated consumer policy think tank. To date we’ve led Australian-first research across a range of critical issues impacting Australians today, including quantifying the harms of dark patterns (e.g. subscription traps), impact of greenwashing on Australian consumers, consumer insights on data and privacy, and consumer experience of essential services, including how vulnerability should be addressed and supported within these markets.
January 15, 2024
Many Australian consumers want to make purchases that support good environmental outcomes. However, it can be far too hard to identify what businesses are taking genuine environmental action. The Climate Active program can help organisations understand and reduce their carbon emissions, but it also plays an important role in providing information to consumers.
December 23, 2023
A designated complaints function recognises the value of complaints from organisations with strong connections to communities, who are able to identify consumer issues at an early stage. This submission outlines minor changes to the draft legislation and a suggested approach to designated complaints to get the best outcome from the new power:
December 20, 2023
Briefing note: Creating a fair, safe and sustainable tomorrow. This briefing note reflects on some of the major issues that were discussed at the Congress relating to, consumers and the digital economy, consumers and sustainability, cost of living and its impact on food and product safety
December 1, 2023
This joint submission between CPRC and Super Consumers broadly supports the Treasury’s initiatives to engage the investment and finance sectors in the transition towards a more sustainable economy. However, a sustainable finance regulatory framework should not only work for consumers by preventing inherently deceptive ‘green’ claims, but also provide meaningful information about the genuine sustainability features of investment products.
