Question

Nathan was born in Sri Lanka and recently arrived in Australia on a boat. He holds a refugee visa and is currently living in Adelaide. He speaks very little English. One sunny afternoon while he was walking down Rundle Mall he was approached by John, a sales representative from a telephone company, Dubious Connections Pty Ltd, who was selling telephone contracts. John was struggling to meet his sales quota and needed to sign up 10 more contracts by the end of the week. He told Nathan about the contracts he was selling. Nathan had been recently thinking about getting a mobile phone as it would be useful for him, especially to be connected with his family back home. As he had neither owned a phone nor had he ever entered into a telephone contract before, he knew virtually nothing about such contracts, and John was aware of this. John told Nathan that there was a special promotion just for that day and if Nathan signed up today he was entitled to a free iOS7.1 telephone. John explained the main features of the contracts but knew that Nathan did not understand most of what John told him, neither did he offer to get an interpreter to explain the terms and conditions of the contract to Nathan. Nathan was under the impression that he could terminate the contract any time he wanted and simply return the phone. In fact the contract was for a three year term and if the contracted was terminated anytime during this period Nathan would have to pay the full contract price of $3120 plus the price of the 1087.1 which was an additional $800. After two months into the contract Nathan found the additional expense of this monthly phone bill difficult to manage with the meagre allowance he received from Red Cross. He wants to terminate the contract and return the phone.

Advise Nathan if there is a valid contract with Dubious Connections Pty Ltd, and any remedies that may be available to him. (Make reference to relevant case law and support your answer).