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The unfortunate truth of the world we live in is that people take advantage of each other. This web site is for people who believe they have been taken advantage of by the use of unfair terms in a contract. A contract should be equitable to all parties, but some companies write their contracts with an extreme bias favouring themselves. Often, unfair terms are written into contracts simply as a safeguard and they are meant to be used only in extreme circumstances, but occasionally even a large corporation will stoop to low levels and begin exploiting their "standard terms and conditions" in a bid to extract as much money from their customers as possible.

If you have had such an experience we suggest that your first step should be to contact the customer service department of the company concerned. If that fails to get results, please contact us with the details of your story and we will do our best to bring the story to public attention. Negative publicity is something no company wants. We will only publish the facts and let the public determine the integrity of the company involved. See the Resources link for a list of other organisations which may be of assistance.

When a company writes unfair terms and conditions into their contracts, there is often no protection from the law. This is the case in Queensland Australia. Once you sign a contract you are on your own. We have written a letter to our State MP Phil Reeves regarding this issue. This letter was then passed on to The Queensland Minister for Fair Trading, Mrs Margaret Keech, and a response was received. The response is published further down this page. A Government which does not offer basic consumer protection against unscrupulous operators is not doing it's job very well. The Victorian Government, the UK Goverment and the European Union offer their constituents some basic protection against unfair contract terms - see the links to the Consumer Federation of Australia in the Resources page.

The warning is clear - even if you think a company is reputable, read the contract and understand exactly what the clauses mean. Even innocent looking clauses may be time bombs just waiting for an unscrupulous company accountant to use to your disadvantage. If you don't understand (and often even when you think you do understand) the contract, you may be signing a blank cheque.

Response From QLD Minister for Fair Trading

The response which is detailed below basically blames the Federal Government's unwillingness to act on this issue for the Queensland Government's lack of action. According to the response, the Queensland Beattie Government has been pushing for a uniform National stance on this issue, and because none is forthcoming the Queensland Government has decided to hide it's head in the sand and pretent the problem doesn't exist. The minister states that she is aware of the problem and the need for action, but because nobody is willing to hold the Queensland Government's hand, they are not willing to take the lead and pass State legislation. This is what we get for the millions of tax payer dollars that we pay our politicians each year. Indecisiveness, impotence and buck passing. Of course, there is still some hope that Queensland may decide to go it alone and pass some sensible laws to prevent the unscrupulous corporate bullying being employed by many large corporations, but since the Government has been "studying" this issue since 2004 we won't be holding our breath waiting.

The letter dated 26th June from the office of the minister The Hon Margaret Keech MP is detailed below...

Dear Mr Reeves

I refer to your letter of 2 May 2007 on behalf of your constituent Mr [omitted] of [omitted] regarding unfair contract terms.

Upon receipt of your correspodence, I referred the issues raised by Mr [omitted] to the Commissioner for Fair Trading for consideration and advice. The Commissioner has advised Queensland does not have legislation speciffically relating to unfair contract terms. However, I have asked the Commissioner to consider how unfair terms in consumer contracts could be addressed under the Fair Trading Act 1989.

Victoria has amended its Fair Trading Act 1999 to prohibit unfair terms, based to a large degree on the United Kingdom's Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. However, such regulation only covers consumer contracts which have not been individually negotiated. Business-to-business agreements are exempt from these laws. The rationale for excluding business-to-business contracts from unfair contract term prohibitions is the relatively stronger bargaining position that business-consumers have compared with other consumers. However all options are still being considered for introduction in Queensland.

The law of contract is based upon the principle that every person is free to decide whether or not to enter any particular contract. It is prudent for parties to a contract to carefully read all the terms and conditions of a contract before signing. Notwithstanding, I am aware such legal assumptions do not match real-life situations, particularly in the case of standard form contracts. Many businesses, particularly small business, face the same imbalances in bargaining power which consumers face when contracting with suppliers of goods and services.

The Beattie Government has led a national push to have uniform unfair contract terms legislation introduced in the States and Territories. I have raised this matter at the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs and argued that unfair contract terms legislation should be introduced nationally. Unfortunately, the Howard Government has not supported that initiative, and therefore a national regime appears unlikely.

Mr [omitted] may wish to raise his concerns with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to ascertain whether there has been any breach of the Commonwealth Trade Practices Act 1974. The ACCC can be contacted in writing to PO Box 10048, Adelaide Street PO, Brisbane, Queensland 4000, or by telephoning 1300 302 021. General information is also available via its website at http://www.accc.gov.au.

Advising the ACCC of this matter will help raise awareness at the Federal level of the need to introduce provisions into the Trade Practices Act to address the use of unfair terms in business to business contracts.

In the meantime, I have instructed my department to continue work on legislative amendments in Queensland to address unfair contract terms.

Thank you for bringing Mr [omitted]'s concerns to my attention.


Yours sincerely


Margaret Keech MP
Minister for Tourism, Fair Trading, Wine Industry Development and Women
Member for Albert

A few too many portfolios maybe? Not enough time to address the issues? It is time for the Beattie Government to take the lead and stop blaming it's inaction on others.

UPDATE - August 2007

Whilst the poor overworked QLD Labor Minister for Too Many Things to Take an Interest in Any of Them was going to all the trouble to explain her own inaction by way of blaming the Federal Liberal Government, it seems that the Federal Liberal Government has been draughting a Bill to address the above issues. An amendment to Section 51AC of the Trade Practices Act is currently going through Federal Parliament, which will add "unilateral price variation clauses" as an item that the courts should take into consideration when determining unconscionable conduct in contracts between large and small businesses.

You would have thought that a State Minister for Fair Trading would have at least had some idea of what was occuring in the Federal Parliament when it is related directly to her portfolio.

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