Unfair Contracts and the Consumer Law Bill

The federal government has recently introduced the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill 2009 (Cth) (the Bill) into Parliament. It proposes major consumer law reforms, including the introduction of a general regime relating to unfair contracts. The incidence of unfair terms in contracts is seen to be high.1 In this paper, the reforms relating to unfair contracts are critically considered, as well as the background to the introduction of such provisions and their rationale. The importance of the proposed changes in light of existing principles in this area will also be noted. The paper will note, but not discuss in detail, the changes made to remedies in the context of breach of consumer protection laws that the amending Bill proposes.