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.
January 10, 2022
CPRC welcomes the progress on the review of the Privacy Act. CPRC has a keen interest in how Australia’s privacy protection framework can be reformed so it offers modern, robust protections that ensure Australian consumers, and our overall society, are better off as the Fourth Industrial Revolution continues to gather momentum.
February 15, 2022
Consumer Policy Research Centre submission to the Treasury Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (CRIS): Improving the Effectiveness of the Consumer Guarantee and Supplier Indemnification Provision Under the Australian Consumer Law.
February 16, 2022
CPRC endorsed a submission by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) consultation on the sunsetting and remaking of the Telecommunications (Listed Infringement Notice Provisions) Declaration 2011.
March 2, 2022
Our response to the Interim Report focuses on how CPRC research can inform the design and implementation of the proposed reforms, which aim to improve outcomes and engagement with tenants and enhance governance to ensure regulators take a market stewardship approach.
June 2, 2022
CPRC welcomes the AER’s Consumer Vulnerability strategy and supports the outcomes suggested. In our submission, CPRC outlines a range of recommendations regarding proposed actions and additional actions, including a “consumer duty” to consumers and industry education program around vulnerability, for the AER to develop consumer facing service quality information, to automate the validation of concessions, and consider safe defaults for low-income consumers.
March 24, 2022
CPRC believes that the Productivity Commission should take a broader view of how to improve productivity, ensuring that benefits are spread evenly across all consumers. Applying a wellbeing approach to its inquiry and any recommendations to improve productivity in Australia will reduce consumer harms especially for people who experience vulnerability.
May 18, 2022
In its submission on the Statutory Review of the Consumer Data Right, CPRC recommends the Government to use the review to consider a set of measures to ensure a more consumer-centric implementation of CDR
November 7, 2022
CPRC generally supports the proposed amendments in Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022. Setting penalties at the right level will ensure that more businesses will seriously consider effective strategies to reduce the risk of data breaches. However, the proposed amendments to the legislation are still limited in scope and remain far from the privacy protections that Australians deserve and that consumers in other comparative jurisdictions have enjoyed for several years. In particular, CPRC asks the Federal Government to: amend the legislation so the regulator can consider penalties for all data breaches, not just when incidents are serious or repeated commission an independent review of the regulator to ensure it is adequately resourced to enforce these penalties, including undertaking proactive surveillance ensure the ongoing review of the Privacy Act includes safeguards on how data is collected, shared, and used by businesses.
May 20, 2022
Australia urgently needs an inclusive strategy for AI and Automated Decision-Making (ADM) that considers the interests of all citizens. The Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) suggests establishing a consumer-centric framework for innovation, resolving policy issues related to data protection, integrating cost-benefit analysis, enforcing a 'duty of care' for consumer data, overseeing emerging technologies, and providing clear consumer redress pathways to enhance consumer protection in the AI and ADM landscape.
August 25, 2022
The level of penalties in the competition and consumer law matter. Setting them at the right level will ensure that fewer companies mislead customers, engage in unconscionable conduct or limit competition in ways that ultimately lead to higher prices for consumers. CPRC worked with the Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action) and CHOICE to strongly support increasing the maximum penalties in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
