The Albanese Government has announced plans to introduce legislation, tackling problems like “subscription traps”, dynamic pricing and other misleading practices that are impacting consumers.

“Whether it’s traps that make it difficult or confusing to cancel a subscription, hidden fees and charges at different stages of a purchase, deceptive or manipulative practices online or making it difficult for people to report problems with their products or services, we’re going to change the rules,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the crackdown is about “easing” the cost of living and giving consumers and suppliers “a fair go”.

The legislation could empower the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and other state and territory consumer protection agencies to give penalties and infringements for breaching consumer laws.

Recently an investigation by ABC’s Four Corners found that Ticketmaster and Ticketek have been adding hidden fees to the overall cost of a ticket, impacting consumers . These fees have been coming at a cost to artists as well as they are not seeing any of these fees handed down to them.

Both Ticketmaster and Ticketek also use “dynamic pricing” where the ticket price can fluctuate based on the demand of the event. This issue came about after Green Day tickets, sold on Ticketmaster, were priced up to $500 under the dynamic pricing.

It comes the day after the government announced a plan to ban debit card surcharges by 2026.

Photo: Supplied by Xavier Rodrigues