Commissioner for Consumer Protection (WA) 

Act: Fair Trading Act 2010 (WA).¹

Established: The Act does not name the body. Section 55 requires the Minister, by notice published in the Gazette, to designate an executive officer of the Department as the Commissioner for the purposes of the Act — and s 55(3) lets the Minister specify the Commissioner's title by the same means.

Purpose: The Commissioner promotes consumer interests, collects and disseminates information about matters affecting consumers, receives and investigates complaints, and administers the Australian Consumer Law as it applies in Western Australia.

Where the authority sits

Western Australia is a fourth variation on a pattern worth knowing. South Australia's Act creates a statutory office. Queensland's creates a commissioner and makes the chief executive that commissioner by default. Victoria's creates nothing and confers functions on whoever is employed as Director. Western Australia's requires a ministerial designation, published in the Gazette, of an existing executive officer.

The consequence is a small but real research trap: the familiar name "Commissioner for Consumer Protection" appears nowhere in the Act, because the title is set by Gazette notice under s 55(3), not by the section that creates the role. A student looking for the body by name in the legislation will not find it.

Powers conferred under the Act

Section 56 lists the Commissioner's general functions: to promote the interests of consumers and assist their awareness in assessing and using goods and services; to collect, collate and disseminate information on matters affecting consumers; and to receive complaints, consider them, investigate where warranted, and take whatever action seems proper.

Section 57 adds a distinct publicity power: the Commissioner may publish a statement identifying and warning about goods that are unsatisfactory or dangerous, services supplied in an unsatisfactory or dangerous manner, and the persons supplying them.

How the Australian Consumer Law applies here — and why it differs

This is the provision most likely to catch a student who has learned another jurisdiction's Act. Queensland (s 16) and Victoria (s 8) apply the Australian Consumer Law text as in force from time to time. Western Australia does not.

Section 19 applies Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) as in force on 1 June 2021, together with later amendments only where they are given effect through the process in ss 19B and 19C. So the WA text tracks the national one through a controlled mechanism rather than automatically, and the two can diverge for a period.

The practical instruction is to check which version of the Australian Consumer Law applies before relying on a recent Commonwealth amendment in a Western Australian matter.

Is it a prosecuting authority?

The Act confers investigation and publicity functions rather than an express prosecution function of the kind Victoria's s 109(f) provides. Enforcement runs through the Act's own proceedings and remedy provisions, including applications to the State Administrative Tribunal in relation to prescribed codes of practice. Where a student needs to identify who prosecutes a particular offence, the answer comes from the offence provision and the Act's procedural sections, not from the functions list.

Self-check

• Have I looked for the Commissioner under s 55 rather than searching the Act for the body's public name?
• Have I checked which version of the Australian Consumer Law applies in WA before relying on a recent Commonwealth amendment?
• Have I traced the prosecuting authority from the offence and procedural provisions rather than assuming an express function?