CHOICE says young Australians shouldn’t feel pressured into taking out health insurance just to avoid paying Lifetime Health Cover loading New CHOICE analysis has found taking out poor value health insurance, simply to avoid a future loading on premiums, may ultimately leave consumers worse off. “As the end of financial year approaches, health insurance and [...]
'Independent', 'independently owned', 'non-aligned' - financial advisers use a variety of terms to promise a lack of conflict of interest. But what do these terms mean? And what is required before an adviser can lawfully use them? ASIC has clarified its position on the use of restricted terms relating to the independence of financial advisers after seeking [...]
Consumer Action Law Centre have launched a campaign urging reform in the Retirement Housing Industry following joint Four Corners/Fairfax Media investigations that brought to light the lengthy contracts, exploitation and crippling exit fees that dog the industry. Consumer Action say that while the revelations have shocked many, the issue is nothing new and the sector is crying out [...]
ACCAN is calling for expressions of interest for one additional member to serve on the Independent Grants Panel. The Independent Grants Panel is responsible for assessing grant applications for funding under the ACCAN Grants Program. The Grants Program funds projects that work towards the vision of communications services that are available, accessible and affordable for [...]
Winter is here and Consumers’ Federation of Australia representatives have contributed to standards that ensure the safety of products we use in winter. The standards are developed via the Standards Australia Technical Committee process. ACCC Top tips for winter product safety are: Never use boiling water to fill your hot water bottle and replace it [...]
The laws that regulate the way in which measurement is marked on product packaging are under review. The Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is conducting the review as the authority responsible for trade measurement regulation. The National Trade Measurement Regulations 2009 Part 4 describe how the name and address of the manufacturer, as well as the weight of the [...]
The International Organization for Standardization (IOS) has published a new standard for Sustainable Procurement - ISO 20400 Sustainable procurement. The standard applies to the purchasing decisions made by organisations when they choose suppliers. It ensures that a company’s suppliers behave ethically, that the products and services purchased are sustainable and capable of meeting organisation and [...]
BABIES’ dummies and dummy chains will be subject to a single product safety standard following a review by the consumer watchdog, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack says. “Dummies and dummy chains are an essential part of the baby bag for any new parent or those with toddlers. Parents deserve the certainty to know the products [...]
Consumers have embraced the opportunities of e-commerce and now a new model is being heralded as the 4th information revolution. Consumers Federation of Australia has appointed a representative to the technical committee developing the new blockchain standard. Blockchain is a ground breaking technology for peer to peer transition platforms that uses decentralised storage to record [...]
Financial Rights has today called on the general insurance industry to introduce a set of best practice standards for insurance investigations in its Code of Practice. This follows the release of the report titled Investigation of Claims and Outsourced Services by the insurance industry’s independent monitor – the General Insurance Code Governance Committee (CGC). The [...]
National Volunteer Week is the largest celebration of volunteers and volunteerism in Australia, and provides an opportunity to highlight the role of volunteers in our community. Consumers’ Federation of Australia thanks the volunteer representatives on the CFA Standards Project for their time and expertise in the development of Australian Standards which makes the world a [...]
Consumer advocates have responded to the Australian Consumer Law Review conducted by Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand, noting some great wins for Australian consumers. Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC) CEO Gerard Brody said in a media release that there are some important changes on the horizon. ‘The Final Report proposes to make insurance contracts [...]
