Ai Group welcomed the opportunity to make a submission on the Corporations Amendment (Improving Outcomes for Litigation Funding Participants) Bill 2021 (Litigation Funding Bill).

Ai Group and its members have a significant interest in the proposed reforms. Businesses are being targeted in a class action boom that is being driven by litigation funding firms that are pursuing excessive profits at the expense of businesses, plaintiffs and the broader community.

Insurance costs for businesses, driven by the large increase in class actions in Australia, have risen by up to 600 per cent.

Those opposing reforms to class action and litigation funding laws often dress up their arguments with liberal references to access to justice in order to take the focus off the excessive profits that they are earning from class actions. Implementing carefully considered changes to class action laws to achieve a fairer outcome for plaintiffs and businesses, will not impede access to justice. The current laws are only operating in the interests of litigation funders and the law firms they are partnering with.