Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

It is the juxtaposition of the convenience of the consumer and the convenience of the business that offered the standard form contract. The coalition believes that if the onus of proof lies with the business then there is a capacity for that to be used as an out clause. That is, people under such things as phone contracts and rental car contracts can use onus of proof as a mechanism to avoid their obligations under the contract rather than avoid them on unfair terms—that they have just decided that they want to get out of it. We believe this threatens the capacity of business to operate in a fluid form. They will always be looking over their shoulder on this contractual term, wondering whether the consumer, once they get sick of a contract, can just back their way out by saying, ‘You have to prove that I have not been slighted.’ At the moment, with standard form contracts, the general presumption is that if the terms are fair you stick to them.