Heidi Murphy
Australians are subscribing to more and more digital services. We’re told the average is 3.7 subscriptions per household. It’s costing us at least 78 bucks a month as of late in 2025. It’s always easy enough to sign up for these various things, but it’s when you try to cancel that you have to navigate some pretty confusing web pages, some pretty detailed fine print and cop the question of whether you are really sure about this quite a few times.
According to the Consumer Policy Research Centre, 3 in 4 of us with subscriptions have had a negative experience when trying to cancel them. If you’ve got a fool‑proof way that always works for you, please share it with the rest of us, 133 693.
This thing of making it hard to cancel is called a ‘subscription trap’. It isn’t currently illegal, but the federal government is trying to make a move in the space trying to ban subscription traps and other hidden fees. On the line is Dr Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Andrew, thanks for your time.
Andrew Leigh
Real pleasure Heidi. Great to be with you.
Murphy
What’s it going to look like?
Leigh
Well, the idea is that it should be as easy to cancel your subscription as it was to sign up. But right now you’ve got Melbourne gyms that are saying you can sign up on the app, but if you quit you have to phone a person. You’ve got all kinds of what they call confirmshaming processes, where when you try to cancel the real cancellation link is greyed out and the ‘I’ve changed my mind and I’d like to stay with you’ link is the easy‑to‑click one.
We’ve got many Australians, as you’ve said, who found it difficult to cancel subscriptions and I’ve even heard stories of people who cancel their credit card because it’s easier than cancelling the subscriptions themselves.
Murphy
And is that all legal at the moment now?
Leigh
At the moment, the competition watchdog has some tools, but it doesn’t have the full kit that it needs. So, we worked with states and territories to reach an agreement in November last year that all jurisdictions would crack down on subscription traps and we’ll move to get the legislation to Parliament this year.
But that will also mean that the state and territory consumer bodies will be enforcing these laws as well as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Murphy
So wait, does that mean there has to be state laws and there’s federal laws, or will the federal laws supersede everything else?
Leigh
Yeah, that’s a great question. So, consumer and competition law is a compact between states and territories.
Murphy
That always makes me nervous.
Leigh
Well, when the states and territories agree then we pass the Commonwealth legislation. So, it’s one bit of legislation goes through the Commonwealth Parliament, but then all of the regulators are enforcing it. So it’s actually a lot simpler than some areas of Commonwealth‑state relations.
And we reckon we can do a lot to tackle subscription traps and ensure that Australians aren’t stuck in that Hotel California situation, where you can check out but you can never leave.
Murphy
When you say – but you’re saying when the states all agree. I mean, this sounds pretty straightforward. They should all agree on this, right?
Leigh
They have all agreed. We settled that last year.
Murphy
Yeah, but on the fine print – you’ve settled on the legislation?
Leigh
And now it’s a matter of getting the draft legislation done and then into Parliament, which we’ll do this year. So this is going to be good for Melbournians who will have in many cases taken on a subscription as part of a New Year’s resolution to get fit or meditate more and will now be protected from the subscription traps that have been the bane of many people’s existence.
Murphy
I know the AUSactive Chief Executive Ken Griffin, was a bit concerned around what you were doing in the gym space. I mean, that’s the first one that always springs to my mind is the gyms, are they particularly bad offenders?
Leigh
Well, I was a little surprised to see those comments given that we’ve had 2 rounds of consultation and AUSactive hasn’t made a submission to either of them. We’re not aiming to ban subscriptions, of course you’ll still be able to sign up to a subscription at your gym, but they’ll need to have pathways for cancellation that are as straightforward as their signup pathways.
They won’t be able to be an electronic 24‑hour gym that lets you sign up on the app, then requires a phone call during business hours, connecting with a person in order to cancel. Those sort of tricks and traps will be the thing of the past once the legislation goes into effect.
Murphy
Because do some businesses not have a person even on the phone line to answer it?
Leigh
Yes, that’s right.
Murphy
So it’s impossible to get out of?
Leigh
Many of us have been stuck in this, and what it means is that for good honest businesses offering decent subscription cancellation options, they’re now being done over by competitors who are using subscription traps. Once we get the legislation through, then businesses will be competing on offering the best services, the best goods, the best customer service, not on the trickiest subscription traps.
Murphy
Once we get it through, when’s the getting it through bit likely?
Leigh
Look, I’m hoping to bring the legislation to Parliament as soon as possible, but we need to consult and the issues that you’ve raised with AUSactive, they’ll have an opportunity to make submissions on the draft legislation if they wish to.
Murphy
So, what, it could still be months and months away – a year?
Leigh
Look, we’re aiming to bring legislation to Parliament this year. There’s obviously a lot of other legislation that we’re keen to get in. So, as the Assistant Minister responsible for Consumer Affairs, I would love to get it in place tomorrow. But the reality is we need to go through the usual consultation processes and the parliamentary processes.
Murphy
And then would it have a take effect date that’s a bit further down to give businesses time to get everything up‑to‑scratch?
Leigh
Yeah, I don’t think we’ll have very long lead time. This has been something that’s been consulted on over the last couple of years. Businesses do know that it’s coming. Many businesses recognise the value of putting it in place.
And alongside this, we’ll be getting rid of drip pricing, which is where you add hidden fees at the very end, and we’ll put in place a ban on unfair trading practices, which is a tool that the regulator has been asking for a long time, just to get a better deal for consumers.
Murphy
Can you do anything about surge pricing?
Leigh
Yeah, so surge pricing can sometimes be useful where it boosts supply as well as affecting demand. And so, in the rideshare area, surge pricing gets a whole lot of drivers off the couch and out driving. The area where it can be a problem though, is where it’s simply gouging and hitting consumers up at a time in which people are facing a natural disaster for example.
So, surge pricing per se isn’t disallowed, but we do need to be pretty careful that companies aren’t abusing their market power.
Murphy
And is part of that drip pricing thing going to be, you know, when you buy an airline ticket but you’re buying about 3 airline tickets and you charged a credit card fee for each of them, or you charge a transaction fee for each of them, even though it’s just one purchase that you’re making, is that drip pricing?
Leigh
Yep, that is. So when you’ve got hidden fees that aren’t disclosed at the outset, then that’s drip pricing. If you’re going to have an unavoidable fee at the end of the transaction, you’re going to have to tell consumers about that at the beginning. And again, that’s good for businesses who are already doing that sort of thing. It’ll ensure that consumers are able to see the real price from the outset.
Murphy
And sorry, that change is already through, or are you still working on that one?
Leigh
That’s part of the same package with unfair trading practices and banning subscription traps.
Murphy
All right, well, I want that one immediately. Let’s do that one tomorrow. That’s the most urgent one.
Leigh
Yes, absolutely. There’s a lot to do for consumers. We’ve passed a lot of reforms through in the past, but it’s an ongoing effort to get a good deal for consumers and make sure people aren’t facing these sort of rip offs.
Murphy
Alright, keen to know what sort of rip‑offs you’ve been subjected to – the ones you’ve been caught up in if you had one of these poor experiences when you’re trying to cancel a subscription.
Dr Andrew Leigh, I do just need to ask you a couple of other questions if I could. Why is the Prime Minister not going to have a Royal Commission into antisemitism?
Leigh
Look, we need to act quickly on the tragedy that happened in Bondi, and the response led by Dennis Richardson will do just that. Royal Commissions tend to be multi‑year events. This investigation by Dennis Richardson, one of our most respected national security experts will very quickly allow us to take action.
Murphy
And does one preclude the other?
Leigh
Well, in this case you’ve got a New South Wales Royal Commission which of course the Commonwealth agencies will respond to. But our view is that alongside with the work we’ve done with Operation Avalite, with the Segal Review, with banning doxxing and a whole lot of other reforms we’ve put in place to crack down any antisemitism, that that package of reforms is the right one, and the speed with which we came to act on this particular Bondi response is the right way to go.
Murphy
Are you getting many calls in your office from concerned members of the community?
Leigh
No look, I haven’t had a great deal of feedback on this. I think there has been, I think a view among many people that we need to get a quick response, that the Bondi tragedy was an atrocious one, and you need somebody who is able to quickly get action from the national security agencies and work out what’s happened there. So, that’s why the Richardson review is the right way to go.
Murphy
Yeah, I suppose. Would you prefer all these former judicial figures and sports figures and business leaders just back off?
Leigh
Look, people will want to have their say and I totally respect the views that have been put forward over the last few weeks. But we do want speedy action on this, which is why the Prime Minister has been so decisive in asking Dennis Richardson to go ahead and do the inquiry in the way that he’s done.
Murphy
All right. And what did you make of Donald Trump’s actions over the weekend in Venezuela?
Leigh
We’ve been calling – as other countries have done, for all parties to remain calm. Certainly, there was a regime that was in place that had lost a democratic election and refused to step down. And in this case, we’ve urged all parties to respect that election result.
Murphy
Alright, thank you very much for your time this morning. I was straying outside your portfolio there a bit, but I couldn’t let the opportunity go by.
Leigh
Never a problem. Thank you, Heidi.
Murphy
Thank you.
Dr Andrew Leigh there – Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Some big changes coming in the subscription space, the drip pricing space. How many subscriptions do you reckon you’ve got? Have you ever had this trouble trying to cancel one?