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 [...]
Consumer groups launch international survey of ticket resellers to address world-wide rorts CHOICE is leading a coalition of consumer groups in launching an international survey of the ticket resale market to stop consumers being ripped off by the likes of Viagogo, Stubhub and Ticketmaster Resale. “From outrageous ticket price mark-ups of up to 327% to [...]
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement that it will fund a new broadband performance monitoring program to provide Australian consumers with accurate and independent information about broadband speeds. The program will use hardware-based devices to perform remote testing of around 4,000 households to determine typical speeds on fixed-line NBN [...]
The Australian Banker’s Association (ABA) response to the Independent Review of the Code of Banking Practice (Khoury Review) is a positive start, but consumer advocates say there are some missed opportunities for the banking industry. Advocates say improving responsible lending assessments and making it easier to cancel credit cards will help Australians have a better [...]
Consumer Affairs Victoria is asking for feedback to help shape the laws that control how Victorians buy and sell property. A new options paper presents a range of possible reforms to modernise and improve Victoria’s 55-year-old Sale of Land Act 1962 (the Act). “Victoria’s property market is booming, and it’s essential the Sale of Land [...]
Standards Australia has released an Issues Paper titled The Role of Standards and Innovation for Driving APEC’s Silver Economy, providing insights to assist Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies to prepare for the challenges and opportunities created by ageing societies. In 2016, Standards Australia and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, on behalf of [...]
“We hear you and we want to help” was the majority message from politicians in Canberra this week when they met with the Regional, Rural & Remote Communications Coalition. The Coalition met with more than 50 members of parliament over two days with the aim of highlighting the plight of telecommunications in the bush. National [...]
CFA members CHOICE, Consumer Action Law Centre and Financial Rights Legal Centre are calling on the federal government to act on conflicted remuneration in the mortgage market following an ASIC report that found widespread conflicts of interest for brokers and bank staff have led to an aggressive sales culture and poor outcomes for borrowers.[1] Quotes [...]
