Posts

Thermomix Court case

Disregard for consumer safety and the law

Record fines for breaching the product safety laws have been ordered in the Federal Court. Findings showed Thermomix's clear disregard for consumer safety and the law. Well done to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for taking…
Product safety policy

ACCC on product safety – policy and priorities

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has raised the profile of product safety over the past month. Following its work on the massive compulsory recall of Takata airbags, the ACCC has taken some key steps to promote the cause…
Scales of justice

Product safety game changer?

Woolworths product safety case Last week Woolworths was fined more than $3 million for supplying goods with misleading representations as to their safety and failing to withdraw unsafe products from sale. This is only the second time in Australia’s…

Commuter wins on fare evasion

A story of poor design and aggressive enforcement It took one of Australia’s leading human rights barristers, working pro bono, but a Melbourne commuter has had fare evasion charges dropped. The Age recently reported the story of a commuter,…

The Qantas Magnetic Toy Case – Interview with Ian Anderson

Ian Anderson was a key witness in the Qantas case. After Consumer Affairs Victoria successfully ran court action against Qantas and its supplier Alpha, I visited key witness Ian to talk to him about what happened. In this interview, Ian…

Qantas and the Banned Magnet Toys

 Qantas and its duty free supplier fined for selling banned toys Perhaps the last place you would expect banned toy magnets to be on sale is on an aeroplane. But that’s what happened in 2013 and both Qantas and its duty free supplier,…