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The Andrews Labor Government is urging Victorians who are moving to be vigilant when hiring a furniture removal company, following a jump in the number of reports about removal and freight services. Moving house is one of life’s more stressful tasks – made all the more painful if your valued furniture and possessions are damaged,…
Read More Know Your Rights When Moving House
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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
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The Consumers’ Federation of Australia will host a breakfast and panel discussion before the National Consumer Congress 2019. Details: Thursday, March 14, 2019 from 7:00 AM – 8:15 AM, before the National Consumer Congress Melbourne Room, Melbourne Town Hall90-130 Swanston St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000 The ‘Art of Political Advocacy’ panel discussion will provide an opportunity to learn…
Read More The Art of Political Advocacy: Breakfast and Panel Discussion
Consumer Advocates in Canberra for the release of the Royal Commission's final report
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has now concluded. The Final Report and the Government’s response was released to the general public on Monday afternoon, providing a road map for law reform that should deliver improved standards in the finance sector. Many of the report’s 76 recommendations have been welcomed by consumer organisations including CHOICE, Consumer…
Read More Consumer groups respond to Royal Commission Final Report
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Safer Internet Day is an annual, worldwide event to help encourage a better internet, with this year’s theme ‘Together for a better internet’ encouraging individuals to create a better internet by developing four, critical skills – Respect, Responsibility, Reasoning and Resilience. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner is the official Committee for Safer Internet Day in Australia—responsible…
Read More Safer Internet Day: “Together for a better internet”
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The Australian Labor Party has announced a proposed ‘super complaint’ function for our consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Under the proposal, a ‘super complaint’ from designated consumer or small business groups about consumer or competition issues would require the ACCC to investigate and make a public response, including its proposed action,…
Read More Labor proposes ‘super complaints’ policy
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From today electricity consumers will have more choice, control and protection with the start of four new rules made by the AEMC. These rules: require retailers to provide at least five business days’ notice to customers before their energy prices change allow small customers to fix inaccurate estimated bills by providing their own reading of…
Read More New consumer protection rules start
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Consumers are being warned to exercise extra caution when buying online, with new figures revealing a jump in complaints about online purchases in the last financial year. Consumer Affairs Victoria received 8,957 online shopping reports in 2017-18 – up 12 per cent from the previous financial year. Goods not being supplied or only partially supplied…
Read More Check Up On Retailers Before You Checkout Online
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The following is a media release from Chris Bowen MP, Madeleine King MP and Andrew Leigh MP. A Shorten Government will protect small business by making unfair contract terms illegal and punishable with significant fines of up to $10 million. Australia’s current laws aren’t tough enough. While contracts terms that unfairly exploit a power imbalance…
Read More Labor makes unfair contract terms illegal
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The Australian Law Reform Commission’s final report into class action proceedings and third-party litigation funders has been publicly released after being tabled in Federal Parliament. The report is expected to stimulate debate amongst consumer advocates, the legal profession, the business sector, and across the wider community, on the issues raised by the report. In announcing…
Read More Australian Law Reform Commission report released
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Consumer Affairs Australia New Zealand (CAANZ) are consulting on the meaning of ‘unsafe’ and ‘reasonable durability’ contained in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) consumer guarantees. This follows a recommendation of the 2017 Final Report of the Review of the ACL – the review found that the lack of clarity of the meaning of ‘unsafe’ and…
Read More Consultation: Meaning of ‘unsafe’ and ‘reasonable durability’ in Australian Consumer Law
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The ACCC is encouraging NBN customers experiencing slow connection speeds to contact their retail service provider (RSP) as they may be eligible for a refund following undertakings it has negotiated with RSPs over the last 15 months. Telstra, Optus, TPG, iiNet, Internode, Dodo, iPrimus and Commander have each admitted that they likely made false or…
Read More NBN customers urged to check if they’re entitled to a refund
