As an Aussie, I can say that our consumer protection laws are awesome. Some multinational / international companies have been bitten by them, but only because they didn't do their due diligence before launching in Australia.

They're really an example of laws designed to protect people. I've universally found that people who complain about them either don't understand them, or they're trying to take advantage of people.

I don't understand how other countries operate without similar laws!

IIRC, Steam famously had to implement their refund system after the Aus government threatened legal action against them. They ended up making the refund system global rather than Aus-specific, so cheers for that one mates!