The Albanese Labor Government is launching a nationwide crackdown on unfair trading practices including hidden transaction fees and subscription traps, releasing draft legislation today that would ban these practices across the economy.

Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Member for Dobell, Emma McBride MP, welcomed the release of the draft legislation and continues to be a strong advocate for a fairer playing field for local consumers.

Too many Central Coast locals have added an item to their cart only to discover extra charges at the final screen or found themselves locked into subscriptions that are far easier to start than to stop.

Although small weekly or monthly changes, these practices can add up and chip away at household budgets and undermine trust in the marketplace.

With cost-of-living pressures front of mind, the Government is acting to make sure the price consumers see is the price they pay.

The draft laws would outlaw harmful business conduct that unreasonably manipulates or distorts consumer decision-making, in addition to targeting subscription traps and hidden transaction fees.

Under the proposed reforms, businesses offering subscriptions in Australia would need to disclose key information before sign-up, notify customers at critical points during a subscription, and provide a clear, straightforward way to cancel. Transaction fees would also have to be prominently disclosed, so consumers are not ambushed by unexpected costs at checkout.

This work forms part of the Government’s broader agenda to deliver fairer outcomes for consumers, including:

• Strengthening consumer protections through new prohibitions and penalties that reinforce consumer guarantees, improve supplier accountability, and continue rolling out the Scams Prevention Framework.
• Improving product safety by addressing risks linked to unsafe products such as lithium-ion batteries and e-micro-mobility devices (including e-scooters and e-bikes), while identifying opportunities to strengthen Australia’s product safety framework.
• Empowering consumers, small businesses and workers through expanding right-to-repair reform, banning non-compete clauses for workers under the high-income threshold, and shortly commencing consultation on expansion of unfair trading practice protections to small businesses and franchisees.  

Submissions can be made online via the Treasury Consultation Hub until 23 February 2026

Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister McBride:

“Many Coasties are dealing with cost-of-living pressures, and while trying to make ends meet the last thing they need is hidden changes or subscriptions they can’t get out of.”

“I will be supporting legislation that cracks down on hidden fees and subscription traps, to create a fair playing field for consumers.”