As part of the Albanese Government’s Better Competition election commitment, consumer and small business advocates will be empowered to raise systemic complaints within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) from July 2024.
Currently there is no formal mechanism for consumer or small business advocacy groups to lodge complaints, to which the ACCC is obligated to respond.
The Designated Complaints function will enable consumer and small business advocacy groups to submit a complaint to the ACCC where they have strong evidence of systemic market issues under the consumer law.
The consumer and small business advocacy groups empowered to lodge such complaints will be nominated by the responsible minister. The government will release further details on this initiative in the coming months.
A similar mechanism has operated in the United Kingdom since 2012.