ACCC Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb introduced the National Consumer Congress on 27 June 2025.

Date

Speakers

Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Chair

Conference

National Consumer Congress

Topics

Buying and selling products and services
Problem with a product or service

Transcript

Check against delivery

Good morning and welcome to National Consumer Congress 2025.

I wish to start today by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land we are meeting on, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present and acknowledge their continuing connection to the land, sea and community. I also pay my respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are attending today’s event. And thank you to Colin Hunter Jnr Jnr for delivering a thoughtful welcome to country today.

I would also like to welcome Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh, who is a keen advocate for consumers and thank you for delivering your address. The ACCC looks forward to continued close engagement with the government and consumer movement to assess and respond to the questions we are all facing.

I’d like to acknowledge and thank Steph Tonkin from the Consumer Action Law Centre, Erin Turner from the Consumer Policy Research Centre, Rosie Thomas from CHOICE, Douglas McCloskey from the Justice and Equity Centre, and Brendan French from Energy Consumers Australia for their assistance and thoughtfulness in the planning of today’s event. Congress is a truly collaborative effort and we deeply appreciate your involvement.

Our sessions today carry through the central theme of regulating in an environment of declining consumer trust – a theme that raises questions about the functioning of contemporary markets.

Trust matters. Not merely as a social virtue; but as a prerequisite for economic participation and market competition.

When consumers can trust that the products they buy are safe to use, the information they rely on to make purchasing decisions is accurate, and that breaches of the law will be addressed, they are more likely to engage, make better informed choices, adopt new products and services, and thereby support dynamic competition.

Conversely, when trust is compromised – whether through misleading conduct, system opacity, or persistent harm – consumer engagement can drop, competitive pressure can be dampened, and market dynamics can be distorted.

Consumer trust is not ancillary to economic activity – it is essential to competition, innovation, productivity and resilience across the economy. There are many examples I could give to illustrate this point but consider just one – our 8th digital platforms inquiry report found that it would take consumers 46 hours each month to read all relevant privacy terms and conditions relevant to them.

At the ACCC we continue to take deliberate action to respond to emerging risks, reduce harm, and uphold consumer trust across our broad consumer protection remit – including product safety. And I would like to share some of the highlights of our work in product safety in the past 12 months.

The year that was: Product safety in 2024/25

I will start with our enforcement actions.

In 2024, Davie Clothing, supplier of the popular Oodie brand, paid more than $100,000 in administrative penalties for allegedly supplying children’s beachwear without mandatory high fire danger labels – a breach of critical safety standards. A court enforceable undertaking was also secured to reduce the risk of future non-compliance.[1] 

Last year our Congress featured an important and moving address on the harms of button batteries. The ACCC has prioritised our button battery standards work.

Earlier this year, Hungry Jacks paid approximately $150,000 in administrative penalties after supplying nearly 28,000 Garfield toys powered by button batteries without the legally required warnings. This enforcement action also secured a court-enforceable undertaking to prevent future breaches.[2]

We also commenced our first litigated matter under the mandatory button battery safety requirements earlier this year – bringing Federal Court Proceedings against City Beach, for allegedly supplying more than 57,000 products containing button batteries that failed to meet product safety standards. This includes desktop toys, novelty lights and accessories likely to appeal to young children.[3]

In addition to enforcement action, we also work to improve compliance through awareness campaigns, regulatory guidance and international collaborations.

In the past year, we launched the Sleep Bub Safe awareness campaign, co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health advocates, to prevent injuries and deaths linked to unsafe infant sleep products.[4] The campaign reached more than 200 organisations and agencies – and we’re building on this in 2025.

We released supplier guidance to support compliance with the new Toppling Furniture Information Standard, which came into effect last month.[5] The guidance was informed by stakeholder feedback to ensure it is practical and effective.

And following our recommendation, the Assistant Treasurer issued safety warning notices about baby bottle self-feeding devices and children’s car seat head straps.[6] Our investigations into these products continue.

We continue to work with hundreds of suppliers to facilitate the voluntary recall of unsafe products. In 2024/25, we published 248 recalls on the ACCC’s Product Safety Website, and we continue to monitor the performance of dozens of higher risk recalls.
 
We also recognise the need to remove unsafe products from online marketplaces. In the 2023-24 financial year, signatories to the Australian Product Safety Pledge removed over 23,000 unsafe product listings from their online marketplaces as a result of consulting the ACCC Product Safety website, and in response to regulatory take-down requests.
 
Sustainability and product safety has also been a focus area for us. During the year, we released guidance for buyers, sellers and online marketplaces to raise awareness of product safety issues involved in second-hand goods online.[7]
 
We contributed to the launch of a global battery safety campaign. And we supported the OECD’s lithium-ion battery awareness campaign with a suite of communications – including social media, industry toolkits, and our Product Safety Matters e-newsletter – to help businesses and consumers make safer choices when buying, using, and disposing of these batteries.
 
It is also worth noting the amendments to Australian Consumer Law in late 2024 to improve the flexibility of mandatory standards. The amendments broaden the scope of matters that a safety standard can deal with, making it easier to reference voluntary overseas standards, and allowing compliance with referenced standards as they exist from time-to-time.
 
The amendments are designed to allow businesses to keep pace with global developments, without needing to meet outdated Australian requirements. Suppliers will have a greater choice of Australian and overseas standards that they can comply with, reducing barriers to trade and supplier costs. This should flow through to cheaper prices and increased choice for consumers, without any reduction in product safety.
 
The outcomes and actions I have outlined demonstrate the breadth of the ACCC’s product safety remit – from enforcement and litigation to public campaigns, reform advocacy and international collaboration. They provide examples of the way our actions respond to challenges consumers experience in our marketplace and assist suppliers to comply with their legal obligations. In addition to reducing harm these actions can contribute to trust.
 
They also highlight the range of tools available to us: court action, infringement notices, undertakings, safety warnings, recalls, and strategic education efforts tailored to different communities and risk profiles.
 
But, while these actions are significant, they are not the end of our work. Maintaining trust in markets and confidence in the safety of consumer goods requires sustained effort and collaboration.
 
We remain committed to working closely with government partners, industry, consumer groups, researchers and legal experts to identify and address the issues that pose the greatest risk of harm.
 
Which brings me to our areas of focus for the year ahead.

The year ahead: Product Safety Priorities 2025/26

Each year, the ACCC sets product safety priorities to focus our work on the issues most likely to result in serious injury or death to Australian consumers.
This year, we are focusing on five key priorities to protect consumers and promote trust, now and into the future.

Product safety in the digital economy

The first is product safety in the digital economy which was part of our suite of compliance and enforcement priorities announced in February.[8]

In February this year we announced that we are targeting misleading or deceptive advertising in influencer marketing, online reviews, in-app purchases and unsafe products in the digital economy.

Reducing the prevalence of high-risk unsafe consumer products online will be key. We will focus on systemic and high-risk product safety issues for consumers. And we will use a combination of regulation, education (for consumers and for businesses), compliance and enforcement tools, where appropriate.

While we have seen an increasing number of unsafe product listings removed in recent years, we remain concerned about the overall volume of these products available on online marketplaces. The risks in the digital economy are layered: they include not only physical harm from poorly regulated or non-compliant goods, but also financial harm and loss of trust when consumers are manipulated or misled into purchases.

We have commenced discussions with signatories of the voluntary Australian Product Safety Pledge to consider options to improve product safety outcomes by strengthening initiatives under the pledge. This includes improving the effectiveness of pledge commitments and reporting requirements.

Consumer and product safety issues for young children

In February, we also announced our priority to address consumer and product safety issues for young children.

The dangers of button batteries, unstable furniture, and unsafe infant sleep products are well established – and yet these risks persist.

Young children remain at disproportionate risk of injury or death from these products that are in daily use by thousands of Australian families and households. For this reason, we will continue to focus on increasing compliance with mandatory standards and raising awareness of new regulatory settings around infant sleep products and toppling furniture.

These are not abstract dangers. They are real, preventable harms that impact families, communities and the broader health system – and our work is about ensuring the standards don’t just exist, but are understood, implemented and enforced.

Mandatory product safety standards

In addition to these priorities, today I am announcing three additional product safety priorities.

The first of these priorities is updating mandatory product safety standards to help improve safety while supporting innovation, reducing costs, and expanding safe product choices.

The ACCC will commence a series of expedited reviews of existing mandatory standards from July 2025. These reviews will consider which voluntary overseas and international standards should be added as compliance options for mandatory standards with an ability to move as the standards are updated over time.

This work ensures Australia’s safety framework keeps pace with changes in product design, technology and consumer expectations. It also supports both consumer safety and market dynamism – helping businesses innovate and invest within a simpler and clearer regulatory framework, and helping consumers buy with confidence.

Lithium-ion battery safety

The next priority is addressing the risk of injury and fire from lithium-ion batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries are powering everything from smartphones to e-bikes to home solar systems. As the use of lithium ion powered devices grows, the ACCC is continuing to focus on the safety of these products.

Our work includes:

  • Raising consumer awareness about the safe purchase, use, charging and disposal of lithium-ion batteries.
  • Assisting with the recall of unsafe lithium-ion battery products, including our continued work on the recall of LG home energy storage system batteries.
  • Contributing to reform programs to improve lithium-ion battery safety, including the development of a harmonised national framework by state electrical safety regulators.
  • This works aims to bridge the gap between innovation and regulation – and ensure the development of technologies doesn’t outpace the safeguards designed to protect their end users.

Product safety data and intelligence

Our final product safety priority is to enhance the quality, timeliness and accessibility of product safety data to better detect emerging risks and prevent harm – particularly for vulnerable consumers.

This includes:

  • Strengthening data sharing with regulators and stakeholders, focused on high-risk products
  • Monitoring safety risks, particularly those linked to emerging technologies, including AI and connected devices
  • Increasing reporting of safety incidents through public education and compliance initiatives
  • Conducting targeted consultation and research to improve understanding of how risks impact different communities.
  • Better data helps to support earlier intervention, more effective recalls, and more effective regulatory responses.

In setting these priorities, we draw from a wide evidence base including critical consultation with stakeholders.

This includes reports from consumers, mandatory incident notifications from businesses, voluntary recalls, our own market surveillance, and intelligence gathered through regulatory partnerships.

But data alone doesn’t drive our priorities. Consumer expectations, expert insights, and the rapidly shifting nature of consumer markets also play a critical role.

I’d like to thank the ACCC’s Product Safety Consultative Committee, now entering its fifth year, for their ongoing contribution to this work. The committee helps us stay close to the lived experiences of consumers and the perspectives of business – and ensures our regulatory responses are informed by insights from key stakeholders across a range of fields on consumer safety issues.

Conclusion

The priorities I have outlined today reflect the environment we’re operating in – one defined by digital acceleration and rising complexity. But also, by the opportunities of connectivity, shared knowledge, creativity and innovation.

These priorities are designed to respond to known harms, and to better anticipate the emerging risks that could shape the future of consumer safety. They reflect our commitment to protect Australian consumers and build and maintain their trust in markets in an era of disruptive change and uncertainty.

 

 

[1] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 'Oodie' pays more than $100,000 in penalties following alleged failure to put fire danger warning labels on Kids Beach Oodies, Media release, 18 July 2024.

[2] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Hungry Jack’s pays penalties for supplying toys with its children’s meals that allegedly breached the mandatory information standard for button batteries, Media release, 13 June 2025.

[3] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, City Beach in court for alleged sale of thousands of non-compliant button battery products, 13 June 2025.

[4] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Sleep bub safe awareness campaign assets, June 2025.

[5] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Toppling furniture mandatory information standard – supplier guide, June 2025.

[6] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Consumers warned of possible safety risks with the use of baby bottle self-feeding devices and children's car seat head straps, Media release, 8 April 2025.

[7] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Guidance for selling and buying second-hand products online, June 2025.

[8] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, ACCC's compliance and enforcement priorities update 2025-26 address, 3 April 2025.