Business and Industry Regulation

Experts are worried about a proliferation of "single-issue" cannabis clinics opening in Australia, some of them willing to prescribe via telehealth consultations with few checks.

The message is clear: the honeymoon period is now over for businesses that were extended during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the ATO works to recoup more than $50 billion in debt.

Lily and her real estate agent are among a growing number of Australians who have been targeted by cyber criminals.

The ATO has issued tens of thousands of director penalty notices that make people personally liable for debts, and is also more commonly using garnishee notices, which allow it to take money directly from a person's bank account or employer. That's sending more businesses under.

Almost two weeks after it was labelled a 'toothless tiger' and unfit for purpose, Australia's corporate regulator ASIC has blasted some of the nation's big banks for ripping off low-income customers by placing the mostly low-income First Nations customers on high-fee accounts.  ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland wouldn't be drawn on questions about the timing of the release of ASIC's investigation into Australia's big banks, but he says more than 200,000 customers have been helped since the regulator started its investigation.

Sally McManus says there is 'no place' for illegal acts in Australian union operations.

Hundreds of Nicheliving customers, who have been waiting more than two years past their scheduled completion dates, have been pleading with regulators to intervene.

Australia's corporate regulator has long been widely seen as weak and ineffectual. Will this week's Senate report spur a break with its chequered past?

A Senate inquiry has delivered a scathing report on Australia's corporate regulator, ASIC, and recommends it should be broken up into two separate entities.

Australia's corporate watchdog, ASIC, isn't prosecuting enough white-collar crime and can't perform its full range of duties, so a Senate committee has recommended it split into two new, more streamlined regulators.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is timid and slow and was once described as "a haven for white-collar crime". A parliamentary inquiry due this week is expected to be brutal in its assessment of the regulator. Will its recommendations chart a path forward?

Food, mortgages and power bills — with the cost of living dominating, will this week’s supermarket inquiry make a difference?

With more than 4,000 active construction sites, the Illawarra will become home of the NSW Construction Authority's newest compliance team.

Farmers have long complained about feeling powerless when negotiating with the major supermarkets. Now, the balance of power could be shifting back to suppliers.

The NSW government pledges to "stamp out bad behaviour" and strengthen oversight of the state's strata management industry in the wake of an ongoing ABC investigation that has revealed the systemic exploitation of unit owners and a widespread culture of kickbacks and secret commissions.

Consumers might not feel the effects of a mandatory grocery conduct overhaul, a peak consumer policy body says. 

The federal government is proposing a new mandatory code to regulate the major supermarkets' relationships with their suppliers

The federal government confirms it will impose new obligations on large supermarket chains to treat their suppliers fairly, enforced by hefty fines.

The ACCC is wary about the proposed merger of Chemist Warehouse and Sigma Healthcare. But other decisions will matter more for service and prices. They concern pharmacy discounting and location rules, and they'll involve taking on existing owners.  

More than half of Australia's hotel pool drownings in the past decade happened in the Sunshine State where life rings, rescue tubes and defibrillators are not mandatory.

Across Australia, a huge, forced migration is underway as consumers are shunted on to complex power prices. Just don't expect anyone to tell you about it.

Senators from across the political spectrum have agreed the public service is over-reliant on consultants, but they are not in perfect agreement on the way forward.

The body that sets the rules in Australia's biggest electricity markets acknowledges worries about complex power prices as it launches review.

Energy usage has historically been estimated when meters were locked away or inaccessible, but some customers are being overcharged hundreds of dollars.

The average American farmer doesn't fix fences and drive tractors. Thanks to market concentration, there is now a handful of companies that dominate the US food system, and they are impacting Australia too.