The Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) welcomes the Albanese Government’s work to honour its election promise to legislate protections for franchised new car dealers by banning unfair trading practices.
James Voortman, CEO of the AADA, said that the release of today’s Treasury consultation paper is tangible progress and recognition that Australia’s franchised new car dealers need protection from the exploitation by multinational car manufacturers.
“Today’s consultation paper is a very important step to delivering important franchising protections for new car dealers,” said James Voortman, CEO of the AADA.
“For years, the AADA has been advocating for these reforms which are now even more pertinent in the biggest disruption our industry has seen. Today’s announcement is welcome but until this is legislated, Australian new car dealers will always be vulnerable to unfair behaviour that is not in their or consumer’s interests.”
Earlier this year Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated in a speech to a room full of new car dealers that ‘…in order to protect consumers from unfair practices, we have to protect dealers as well’.
This statement from the Government clearly demonstrates their understanding of how protecting both Australian consumers and dealers are intrinsically linked.
Australia is facing challenging economic times with overall new vehicle sales declining. Dealers are operating in a very difficult environment with a record number of new manufacturers entering the market while the industry adjusts to decarbonisation of the transport sector. It is thus imperative that the Government legislates these protections so the over 64,000 people employed in the nearly 4,000 new car dealerships across Australia are shielded from the proven power imbalance within the automotive franchising sector.
The 2026 Dealernomics Automotive Statistics booklet is available for download here.