And you think you have been busy in recent months. Small-business inquiries to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission jumped no less than 60 percent in 2020, as businesses increasingly sought information about their obligations to consumers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ACCC has reported.

The latest Small Business Report issued by the ACCC says that, while reports of potential misconduct were down slightly between July and December 2020, it still received almost 2000 total complaints from small businesses.

About one-third of these involved claims of misleading conduct and false representations by other businesses.

Better times may lie ahead (though breath-holding is not recommended): the Morrison Government says it is “progressing reforms” that will strengthen existing unfair contract term protections under Australian Consumer Law.