The Federal Opposition urges the Turnbull Government to heed the warnings of a Federal Court judge and act immediately to stop multi-national companies from ripping off Australians.

Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs Madeleine King says Justice Michael Lee is spot on in his assessment that the $9 million penalty handed down to Apple for deceiving Australian consumers is “loose change” for the multinational company.

This is another example of a big, multibillion dollar company taking honest Australians for a ride, and receiving just a slap on the wrist.

Labor believes penalties for anti-consumer conduct are too low to be a deterrent, which is why we took to the last election a policy of increasing penalties for anti-consumer conduct.

Labor is happy the Government finally came to the table on this earlier this year, and will continue to support the passage of the Australian Consumer Law Review Bill through the Senate.

This week the Federal Court found Apple misled nearly 300 customers, with customers with faulty products turned away if a third party had previously worked on their device.

Australian consumers deserve to be treated with respect, and this kind of deceptive conduct surrounding faulty products, which we’ve seen in the automotive industry too, needs to be shut down.

Currently the penalties are too low.