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Class actions in Australia: procedural framework, opt-out regime, funding, costs, settlement approval, regulator involvement and reform trends - a practitioner Q&A

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Practice notes

Class actions—Australia—Q&A guide

This Practice Note provides a jurisdiction-focused Q&A on Australian class actions, produced within the Lexology Getting the Deal Through series by Law Business Research (law as at 14 October 2022). Authors: Clayton Utz—Andrew Morrison; Colin Loveday

1. Outline the organisation of your court system as it relates to collective or representative actions (class actions). In which courts may class actions be brought?

Australia’s Federal Court operates a statutory framework for representative proceedings. That framework is set out in Part IVA of the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) (representative proceedings). Closely comparable provisions apply in the Supreme Court of Victoria under Part 4A of the Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic).

Since March 2011, the Supreme Court of New South Wales (NSW) has maintained its own, distinct class action mechanism. This pathway permits proceedings where claims are founded on negligence or allege contraventions of New South Wales legislation. There are a number of material distinctions between the NSW class action model and the federal and Victorian regimes...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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