Policy
Consumer rights and data privacy
You should be able to question a bill, leave a subscription and say no to optional tracking without having to fight the system.
These proposals tackle the imbalance between people and the organisations that hold their money, records or access to essential services. Each sets out what should change, who has the power to change it and how we would push it.
Your data, your say
What is collected? What is it joined with? Who receives it? When is it deleted? Can you say no?
Digital Power: Duty of Care
If government uses a system to watch, profile, rank or make decisions about people, it should have to explain and justify that use.
- Who can change it
- Victoria
- How we push it
- Develop a duty of care for consequential government digital systems. Seek scrutiny from Victoria’s privacy regulator, OVIC, and pursue the necessary changes to Victorian law and public-sector practice.
The No Button
Optional tracking and profiling should come with a real way to say no. Using an essential service should not quietly become consent to unrelated data matching.
- Who can change it
- Victoria and the Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Pursue protections for Victorian public services here, and protections for covered private organisations through Commonwealth privacy reform. The Privacy Act does not cover every business; exemptions need to be considered in the design.
Retail Data Privacy and Consumer Autonomy
Keep the convenience without compulsory profiling. An ordinary purchase should not require agreement to unrelated data joining, and people should be able to see what was linked.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Put the published draft legislative reform into the federal privacy debate. Seek scrutiny of the consent, disclosure and enforcement provisions before asking federal representatives to advance them.
Read the draft reform Sources for Retail Data Privacy and Consumer Autonomy
Government Data and Algorithm Change Register
When a public-sector system changes how it collects information or assesses people, that change should be discoverable.
- Who can change it
- Victoria
- How we push it
- Seek a publication requirement for consequential systems and material changes. Use government policy where lawful, and legislation where needed to set duties, exceptions and oversight.
Surveillance Touchpoint Mapping
People should be able to see where an ordinary day leaves a data trail, and where the public explanation runs out.
- Who can change it
- Local research can begin now; disclosure and regulation involve councils, Victoria and the Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Map disclosed systems in and around Sydenham District, identify the evidence for each entry and take unanswered questions to the responsible body. Separate confirmed deployments from possible connections; a capability is not proof it is being used.
Consumer rights and fair markets
Can an ordinary person understand, challenge and resolve a problem without being worn down by the process?
Consumer Dispute Equality Standard
If a company holds the evidence and controls the process, you should not have to prove your case without access to the records.
- Who can change it
- Victoria and the Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Seek stronger evidence-access and preservation requirements through Victorian consumer and tribunal reform. Put gaps in national consumer law to consumer affairs ministers and Commonwealth decision-makers. An MP would advocate for reform, not direct a tribunal’s decisions.
Debtor Right to Match
Before a debt is sold at a discount, give the person who owes it a chance to settle at an independently verifiable equivalent price.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Put the design and real cases to Treasury, ASIC and federal representatives. Work out how to allocate a price when debts are sold in bundles, and test whether the rule could create incentives to withhold affordable repayments.
Debt-Sale Transparency
When a debt is traded, the sale value and the method used to allocate it should be auditable.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Seek rules on the records sellers and buyers must keep, who can inspect them and how disputed valuations are checked. This supplies the evidence needed to test a right to match.
Debt Collector Identity Standard
A collector should identify their organisation and provide a safe way to verify the contact before demanding your personal information.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth, with Victorian consumer enforcement where applicable
- How we push it
- Ask ACCC and ASIC to strengthen guidance and seek enforceable changes where existing law falls short. The process must verify the collector without disclosing someone’s debt to the wrong person.
Subscription Cancellation Parity
If signing up takes three clicks, cancelling should not take a hostage negotiation.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Test subscription cancellation against the new federal protections due to start on 1 July 2027. Push for clear implementation and enforcement, then use evidence of remaining barriers to seek further changes.
Unused Auto-Renewal Refund
If a subscription renews and you have not used it, there should be a defined period in which you can cancel and get a refund.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Develop a specific refund rule with clear time limits and a workable definition of use. Test it alongside the subscription reforms; those reforms should not be described as already granting this proposed automatic refund.
Family Is Not an Address
A product sold as a family product should make any same-address restriction obvious before you pay.
- Who can change it
- Victoria and the Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Collect examples of unclear restrictions and put them to Consumer Affairs Victoria and the ACCC. Seek clearer disclosure standards where existing protections leave a gap.
Merchant-of-Record Transparency
At checkout, you should know which business is taking legal responsibility for the sale, the refund and any dispute.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Put unclear checkout examples and a proposed disclosure standard to the ACCC and Commonwealth Treasury. Distinguish the seller from the payment processor so customers know who must resolve the problem.
Mega Profits = Mega Service
Companies making strong returns from Victorians should provide capable help, clear service deadlines and a remedy when they fail to deliver.
- Who can change it
- Victoria and the Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Write measurable service requirements into Victorian contracts and concessions. For banks, seek changes through the Banking Code and Commonwealth law.
Super Growth Dividend
Give contributing members a choice to take some of their super’s investment growth as cash before retirement, within limits, or leave it invested.
- Who can change it
- The Commonwealth
- How we push it
- Seek independent scrutiny and Treasury costing, take the design to federal representatives and publish their answers. Use the Victorian parliamentary platform to seek support, not claim a state MP can change superannuation release rules.
Evidence and next steps
The source links lead to the evidence and existing rules behind each proposal. They do not imply that a regulator has endorsed it. Published drafts are linked separately; the other proposals are directions for development and testing.
For retail data, the article, source register and draft legislative reform remain separate.
- OVIC: privacy rights and Victorian coverage.
- OAIC: small-business coverage and exemptions.
- Treasury, 2 July 2026: subscription reforms commencing 1 July 2027.
If a proposal stands up, the job is to advance it through the right government and publish the response. If it needs work, publish the change and the reason.