Elaine Attwood, a CFA representative on the Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Packing Advisory Group recently attended the 5th meeting this December. The meeting involved discussion around FSANZ’s conclusions following the first Call for Submissions made. Members within the meeting heard on the issues raised within the submissions. Whilst submissions were minimal, the general caliber…

Read More CFA representative attends FSANZ Packing Advisory Group meeting

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Consumers’ Federation of Australia is seeking a volunteer consumer representative for the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) Consumer Advisory Panel. CAP was established in 1999. CAP advises ASIC on current issues faced by retail investors and consumers in the financial services and credit industries. CAP also informs ASIC’s surveillance, enforcement, policy and financial education…

Read More ASIC CAP Applications Open

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CHOICE calls for bigger penalties after court increases Reckitt Benckiser fine. Consumer Group Choice has welcomed the decision to hit Nurofen manufacturer, Reckitt Benckiser, with an increased $6 million fine over its dodgy targeted pain relief products, but says the penalty doesn’t go far enough[1]. “These companies make huge profits when peddling these deceptive and…

Read More CHOICE: Nurofen hit with $6 million fine

In October this year, the Australian Senate created the Select Committee into the Resilience of Electricity Infrastructure in a Warming World. The purpose of the committee is to examine the current role of various storage technologies and localised distributed generation to provide Australia’s electricity networks, and assessing their resilience in withstanding the growing intensity and frequency…

Read More CFA asked to prepare submission for Senate on electrical infrastructure resilience

Australia’s peak consumer body, the Consumers’ Federation of Australia,  welcomed a finding from the Productivity Commission that additional public funding be provided to support consumer advocacy. The finding, made in the Commission’s Draft Report on Consumer Law Enforcement and Administration, recognised there is considerable unmet demand from policy makers for input from informed consumer advocates.…

Read More Productivity Commission calls for greater investment in consumer advocacy

Following the slew of financial scandals Australians have faced in recent years, consumer advocates say that Australians need simple and accessible justice with reformed Ombudsman services. The Review of the Financial System External Dispute Resolution and Complaints Framework (Ramsay Review), led by Professor Ian Ramsay, today released its interim report. In response to the review,…

Read More Victims of financial scandals need simple justice – response to Ramsay EDR Review

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Financial counsellors – who help hundreds of Australians with financial services disputes each year – have provided overwhelming support for the merger of the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Credit & Investments Ombudsman into a one stop financial complaints ombudsman service. Seventy-five percent of financial counsellors that responded to a survey by Financial Counselling Australia…

Read More Financial Counselling Australia: Financial Counsellors Support Merger of FOS and CIO