Book-up credit system to Anangu customers not unconscionable

A narrow majority of the High Court has dismissed an appeal by ASIC, finding that a general store owner's informal 'book-up' system that supplied credit to Anangu customers in South Australia's APY Lands was not unconscionable.

The book-up system allowed the deferral of whole or part payment for goods subject to the owner retaining a customer's debit card and personal identification number linked to their Centrelink payments. It was sometimes the only way for consumers in this area to access credit due to various financial literacy, practical and cultural barriers. ASIC argued that the system was contrary to their interests and exploited the vulnerability and disadvantage of customers, and therefore was a contravention of the proscription of unconscionable conduct under section 12CB of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (the ASIC Act).