SICK OF BEING RIPPED OFF AND FOBBED OFF? SICK OF BEING SOLD CRAP THAT YOU CAN'T RETURN? THEN SIGN THE PETITION!

Ashton Wood destroyed his Jeep (Destroy My Jeep). Teg Sethi spent thousands making a video about his lemon Jeep that went viral. Why? Because they couldn't get a refund for their severely defective vehicles. This is still happening today. Only stronger consumer laws will stop this travesty of justice.

Imagine buying a product for $20,000, or $50,000 or even $80,000 or more and it has so many defects you either can't use it or it is unsafe. Then the supplier blames you for the defects or offers to fix it and just patches it up. Consumer Affairs says 'we can't force a supplier to give you a refund' even though the Australian Consumer Law says that is what you are entitled to. So you are now headed to court or you watch your expensive lemon rot in your back yard. You will lose a lot of money no matter what you do just because you had the bad luck to buy the wrong product.

Is this fair? NO. Should this be stopped? YES. Do consumers need far better protections that don't require legal action? YES. 

Lets send a clear message to the Australian Government that consumers have had enough and want stronger protections that don't cost them money when they buy a defective product. We want all the recommendations from the Australian Consumer Law review implemented.

The Australian Consumer Law took many years to draft and was finally passed by Parliament for implementation on 1 January 2011. After 5 years of operation it was subjected to a review to find out whether it was meeting its objectives. Sadly it wasn't and so after extensive consultation and reviews, recommendations have been made to strengthen consumer protections and enforcement.

Today, 26 April 2017, John Rolfe reported that Michael McCormack, Minister responsible for 'consumer matters' has torpedoed two of the key recommendations in the final report into strengthening the Australian Consumer Law. These are the 30 day refund provision and the multiple minor defects make a major failure provision.

These two new provisions in the law would go a long way to ensuring that consumers are protected against shonky suppliers and manufacturers and not have to spend time, energy and money in seeking redress through courts, especially for larger purchases such as lemon caravans and cars.

Michael McCormack is both the Minister for 'consumer matters' and the Minister for Small Business. This is a clear conflict of interest when making decisions about consumer protection that may impact negatively on small businesses who choose not to abide by the ACL and are selling or manufacturing defective products. Supporting Small Business growth and development shouldn't come at the expense of consumer safety and protection.

Consumers need to send a clear message to Mr McCormack that they are sick and tired of being fobbed off, of defective goods costing them money and not the supplier or manufacturer, and being forced to take costly and stressful legal action just to get a refund. 

Please sign this petition to tell the Australian Government that consumers have had enough and demand better laws to protect them, especially for very expensive purchases that they make that may be the second most significant purchase in their lives after their home.