The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO NORTH QUEENSLAND, MORNINGS WITH SUSAN GRAHAM-RYAN
WEDNESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2026
SUBJECTS: Albanese Government banning unfair trading practices, artificial intelligence
SUSAN GRAHAM-RYAN: Have you ever checked your bank account and found another charge for a subscription you meant to cancel, stopped using or barely remember signing up for? It might only be a few dollars at a time, but those costs add up. And subscription traps are just one of several sales tactics many of us have learnt to put up with.
But Andrew Leigh has held the federal competition portfolio since 2022 and has made stronger consumer protection a significant focus, particularly as household budgets remain under pressure. He is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, and he spoke with the ABC's Emma Jones about putting consumer protection on the national agenda.
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, one survey found that 3 out of 4 Australians with subscriptions had a negative experience trying to cancel them. Another found that 1 in 10 people who tried to cancel a subscription gave up and just decided to keep on paying for a subscription they didn't want. One expert group estimates that subscription traps are costing Australians $46 million a year. So this is a big cost of living issue. It's frustrating for many people who are looking to get out of a subscription they don't want, and the government wants to stand on the side of consumers who reasonably enough want to cancel a subscription when they're done with it.
EMMA JONES: Some would say it's up to the customers to track their subscriptions, read the fine print. Why isn't that good enough? Why aren't you satisfied with that?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, we're seeing a minority of businesses who are putting roadblocks in the way of people who want to cancel. It's that kind of Hotel California situation, Emma. You can check out, but you can never leave. They're saying to people with gym subscriptions, you can sign up online but you've got to go in person to cancel it. That's just not a reasonable approach. And so the laws that have passed the Parliament and take effect in the middle of next year say to firms very clearly; people should be able to cancel a subscription pretty much as easily as they got into it.
EMMA JONES: You're an economist by training before getting into federal politics. Why do you regard consumer protection as serious economic policy rather than just a customer service issue?
ANDREW LEIGH: Yeah, it's true, it's both. It's about looking after consumers but it's also about fair competition. Right now, plenty of decent Australian businesses are offering fair subscriptions that you can cancel easily, but they're being undercut by dodgy firms that are putting in place subscription traps. We don't want to see the playing field being tilted in favour of dodgy firms. We want to see fair competition. Of course, subscriptions will continue to exist under our new laws, but subscription traps will be gone.
EMMA JONES: I’m speaking with Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh. Household budgets are under so much pressure. How much difference are you hoping tackling these seemingly small changes might make?
ANDREW LEIGH: Well, the best estimate we have is that it saves Australians some $46 million a year. But that's just the cost of the subscriptions, Emma. The other big impact is the saving of time, where people are currently being frustrated and having to spend far more time than they should in cancelling subscriptions. We want an economy that works for people and that's at the core of the ban we've put in place on unfair trading practices, on drip pricing and on subscription traps.
EMMA JONES: Beyond subscriptions, are there other consumer practices or protection issues that you've got on your sites?
ANDREW LEIGH: We're looking at some of the issues that arise around artificial intelligence. There have been reports overseas of personalised pricing, which is not a practice we're seeing terribly much in the Australian market right now, but certainly something we're watching quite closely. If you and I go to buy a product online, my view is that we ought to be paying the same price, not with the price being increased for the customer who's least likely to shop around.
And then the other issue is the ones that arise are through AI agents who are doing the shopping for us. We use agents in plenty of other contexts in life, like a real estate agent, and there we have some strict rules that say that the agent needs to be acting for you. Emma's agent needs to be focused on Emma's interests. Right now, we don't necessarily have all of those protections in place around artificial intelligence agents, and the government's watching that space closely.
EMMA JONES: The protections passed in Parliament this year, Assistant Minister, but they won't begin until July next year. Why should consumers have to wait a full year?
ANDREW LEIGH: We want to make sure that firms that are currently offering subscriptions have time to accommodate the new rules. One of the things we always do as a government is to consult closely with industry. And so, for example, if you're a small gym and you've got existing gym contracts, this gives you the time to update your gym contracts and so they don't fall foul of the subscription traps laws. That's an appropriate way of engaging with businesses. We're a pro-productivity government. We recognise we need to have a measured, considered approach as we roll out legislation.
EMMA JONES: We're in a period of time where online sales events are seemingly all the time. I feel like I can't escape them. And the tactics that are involved with online sales events are evolving very quickly. How concerning is that area for you and are you keeping a close eye on what's going on here?
ANDREW LEIGH: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and its state and territory Fair Trading counterparts are very aware of the issues that arise with online commerce. To one extent it's online, so you might think it's harder to track down. On the other, it doesn't involve shoe leather from the competition enforcers. They're able just to go straight to the website and if they see a breach, immediately take action.
Misleading and deceptive conduct isn’t on and that includes misleading and deceptive conduct that goes to dodgy discounts. We've also, through the introduction of an unfair trading practices prohibition, been aiming to crack down on practices such as a fake countdown timer that creates a situation of artificial scarcity where it doesn't really exist.
EMMA JONES: Once the new protections do take effect, what should change for someone trying to cancel a subscription? Particularly, as you said, the time it takes sometimes to figure how to cancel? What can we expect when these do take effect?
ANDREW LEIGH: The basic principle of the new laws is it should be as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to start the subscription. So, whether that's a streaming service, whether it's a gym, whether it's a newspaper, the same rules apply. Subscription traps are no longer allowed under our new laws. They ensure that people are able to go through a straightforward cancellation pathway. No longer will we end up with the terrible situation we have now where I've spoken to people who say, ‘Look, it's easier to cancel the credit card than to try and cancel the underlying subscriptions’. Those days are at an end.
SUSAN GRAHAM-RYAN: That is Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh, speaking with the ABC's Emma Jones.
ENDS