Post thumbnail
Consumer Policy Research’s Centre (CPRC)’s latest report – A Day in the Life of Data – illustrates the bewildering volume and scope of data collected about consumers just as they go about their daily lives. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, and personal information is increasingly being collected and commodified while legislation fails to keep up. Led…
Read More CPRC Research Report: A Day in the Life of Data
Post thumbnail
Australians lost almost half a billion dollars to scammers in 2018 according to the latest figures in the ACCC’s Targeting Scams report released today. “Total combined losses reported to Scamwatch and other government agencies exceeded $489 million – $149 million more than 2017,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said. “And these record losses are likely just the tip…
Read More Scams cost Australians half a billion dollars
Post thumbnail
In late 2014, the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN) received a grant from the Ecstra Foundation to create Yarnin’ Money, a financial capability program wholly developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In the 2014 grant round, Ecstra sought to fund projects that would: ‘work to improve the financial literacy and money…
Read More ICAN launches Yarnin’ Money Report
Post thumbnail
Australian residential consumers and small businesses made 60,998 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in the last six months of 2018 (1 July 2018 to 31 December 2018). In this period, complaints about landline, mobile and internet services, decreased by 27.7 per cent compared to the same six month period in 2017. Publishing the Telecommunications…
Read More Phone and internet complaints down between July and December 2018
Post thumbnail
Insurers should accept the challenge of embedding a strong culture of fairness, honesty and transparency, or risk being forced out of business, according to an insurance compliance leader. Lynelle Briggs AO, Independent Chair of the General Insurance Code Governance Committee (the Committee), said there was evidence that some subscribers were not taking the Code and…
Read More Deliver strong and fair culture or risk business, insurers told
Post thumbnail
Reliable, affordable, renewable energy has helped many Australians take back control of their power prices. Yet as the solar industry booms, consumer protection has not kept up. More needs to be done to protect householders, according to a comprehensive report released by Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action). Sunny Side Up: Strengthening the consumer protection…
Read More Sunny Side Up: Strengthening the consumer protection regime for solar panels in Victoria
Post thumbnail
Almost 38 million life insurance cover types were in force at 30 June 2018, according to the inaugural Annual Industry Data and Compliance Report compiled by the Life Code Compliance Committee (LCCC). The report is based on information provided by subscribers to the Life Insurance Code of Practice). Death (41%) and total and permanent disability…
Read More Life insurance code monitoring body delivers report on Australian life insurance industry compliance
Post thumbnail
A new report released today by Australia’s peak communications consumer organisation, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), shows that telco customer service representatives are being encouraged to focus on selling over service, potentially exposing consumers to questionable selling practices. The Spotlight on Telco Commissions and Targets exploratory report was commissioned following a number of…
Read More ACCAN shines a light on telco sales practices in new report
Post thumbnail
Consumer think-tank launches latest research report – The Renter’s Journey –at CPRC Policy Connect Series forum • 5 common challenges• 10 key policy implications• 20+ organisations involved in research process Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) has released its latest research report – The Renter’s Journey – following the rental experiences of four key groups of…
Read More Renters must be at centre of reforms, CPRC report finds
Post thumbnail
The Systemic Insight “Sales Practices Driving Consumer Debt”, shares the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman’s recommendations on how providers could improve their selling practices to reduce consumer financial over-commitment and debt. The report makes practical recommendations in four areas that providers can adopt in selling post-paid plans and devices: Assessing a customer’s actual capacity to pay Training sales…
Read More Systemic Insight Report: Sales Practices Driving Consumer Debt
Post thumbnail
Australians’ ever-increasing appetite for data-hungry video services is transforming the communications landscape. This is a key finding of the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s Communications report 2017–18, tabled in federal parliament today. The annual ACMA report examines the current telecommunication and media environment, including the latest in industry innovations and consumer trends. ‘Over 50 per…
Read More Changes to communications landscape accelerating
Post thumbnail
Fixed-line NBN customers received generally good levels of service during the latest round of ACCC broadband speed tests, but some consumers experienced a dip in speeds. The ACCC’s latest Measuring Broadband Australia report, released today, expands the number of retail service providers (RSPs) to include Dodo, iPrimus and Exetel, enabling the report to cover a…
Read More NBN speeds mostly steady, but improvements needed