Swift justice inside Australia’s ‘consumer courts’

A look inside the world of Australia's "consumer courts" has revealed an arena where people can pursue justice without it costing a fortune.

A Current Affair went inside the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to take a look at the huge range of cases that come through the doors.

Supreme Court Justice and former Army member Greg Garde is the VCAT president, and said the tribunal was "very informal".

"We are about people, that's what the VCAT was created for and that's what we do all the time," he said.

"Our informality, our use of alternate dispute resolution or mediation is all about solving peoples' disputes."

Justice Garde said that as people didn't need a legal representative and many proceedings were free, there was often also a much lower cost involved.

The quick resolution of cases was also part of the appeal.

In one of the cases observed by A Current Affair, the Dunn family took on a floorboard company after they had new boards installed.

Plaintiff Christopher Dunn said they had not been told how much noise the floorboards would carry to their downstairs neighbour.

Despite the company's contention that they had never claimed the floor would make no noise without anything "on it or under it", the Dunns were the victors, awarded about $5000.