Nellie is a single mother in her early 40s who has been out of the workforce for a long time. Now that her kids are all at school, she has decided that she would like to start earning some money, but she needs her work to be sufficiently flexible to fit around school hours.

While at the supermarket one morning, Nellie runs into a parent of a child in her daughter's class. The school parent, Eugenia, mentions that she has recently started selling Nature's Luxury Skin Care products and they are looking for more people to go into business with. Eugenia invites Nellie to come with her to an information session the following day.

The information session is held downtown in a fancy hotel conference room. Up the front of the room, a Nature's Luxury Skin Care executive gives a presentation about how Nature's Luxury Sales Representatives can earn up to $5000 a week, working flexibly from their own homes. He talks at length about the power of positive thinking and how it enables Nature's Luxury Sales Representatives to expand their sales and influence. Finally, there is a brief presentation on the Nature's Luxury line of skin care products.

At the end of the presentations, Eugenia asks Nellie if she is interested. Nellie tries to say that she'd like to give it some more thought, but Eugenia drags her over to a sign-up table before she can articulate herself clearly. At the sign-up table, Anna, a Senior Sales Representative greets Eugenia before rapidly running Nellie through the terms and conditions of becoming a Nature's Luxury Sales Representative.

Anna tells Nellie that she must purchase a starter kit of Nature's Luxury Skin Care products for $700 and attend a two-day training seminar on 'Selling the Nature's Luxury Ways'. She then asks Nellie to sign the final page of a lengthy contract, which she explains, 'Just sets out the terms of our agreement, such as the price of products and all the opportunities available to you to make extra money as a Nature's Luxury Sales Representative. Nellie is feeling uncomfortable, but it is almost time to collect the kids from school, so she quickly signs the agreement in order to leave quickly without making a fuss.

Two months later, Nellie has been struggling to sell many Nature's Luxury Skin Care products. There are eight other Nature's Luxury Sales Representatives amongst the parents at her kids' school and everyone she approaches has either already bought some products or is sick of being asked to. She has also received a bill from Nature's Luxury of $700 for the starter kit and $2000 for the two day training. She had not been aware that the training was going to cost her anything. Worried about money and how to pay her invoice, Nellie approaches Eugenia to see what she is doing wrong.

Eugenia tells Nellie that she needs to focus more of her time on recruiting new Sales Representatives, because then she will receive commission from the starter kits and training in addition to 10% of the new Sales Representatives' product sales. She confides in her that she's never going to make money by selling the products because they are too expensive and the market is already completely saturated.

The following day Nellie's neighbour, Christina, knocks on her door. Nellie sold Christina the Nature's Luxury cream face wash and moisturiser a few weeks ago. Christina has an angry red rash on her face and is clearly very upset. She tells Nellie that the products have given her a terrible rash and she has been fired from her job at a local modelling agency.

Christina tells Nellie that after she lost her job, she googled Nature's Luxury and discovered that many people have come out in terrible rashes after using their products. Several people also allege that Nature's Luxury products have never been properly tested. Christina asks Nellie for a refund and for Nature's Luxury' details, so that she can sue them for damages. When Nellie looks at her paperwork, she discovers that the Nature's Luxury Skin Care products are manufactured in the Philippines and Nature's Luxury is the sole Australian distributor.

In your first letter of advice:

The ACCC have been looking into the activities of Nature's Luxury and have decided that it needs to further investigate what is going on with both its sales practices and the safety of its products. In your second letter of advice, advice the ACCC as to:

(b)What powers are available to the ACCC under the Australian Consumer Law to gather evidence against Nature's Luxury.

(c)What kind of enforcement actions might the ACCC pursue against Nature's Luxury separately to Nellie and Christina.

Please refer to relevant cases and potential remedies.