Consumers' Federation of Australia

10 May , 2023

Problems Persist but Hold Steady – TIO 3rd Quarterly Report

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s (TIO) Quarter Three Complaints Report shows residential consumers and small businesses made 17,777 complaints about phone and internet services between January and March this year. While complaints have remained steady compared to the previous quarter, the results show an almost 19 per cent decrease against the same period last year.

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Pet Food for Cats and Dogs – Have Your Say

We are now estimated to be spending over $33 billion annually to keep our pets fed, healthy and well-accessorised. Food represents 51% of all expenditure, around 89% of this total is on dogs and cats according to the AMA 2022 report Pets in Australia: A national survey of pets and people. Standards Australia has released…

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National Volunteer Week 15-21 May 2023: The Change Makers

National Volunteer Week (NVW) is Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteering and a chance for all of us to celebrate and recognise the vital work of volunteers. The theme for this year is The Change Makers, a celebration of our power to drive change and ensure volunteering is inclusive of all members of the Australian…

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Privacy Week 1-7 May 2023: Back to Basics

Original media release 1/05/2023 from Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Privacy regulators from across Australia have issued a joint statement to mark the start of Privacy Awareness Week 2023 (1 to 7 May). For Privacy Awareness Week, privacy authorities from around Australia are joining together to call for people, organisations and agencies to get ‘back to basics’…

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Consumers Want (and need) More from Telcos

“Cost of living issues aren’t going away for the foreseeable future, so it’s particularly concerning that over 40% of the Australian adult population are unaware that they can contact their telco provider for help managing their bills. This research shows that it is imperative that financial hardship policies are promoted by telcos and made easily accessible on their websites,”

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Super Payday

Super Consumers Australia welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement that people will now be paid super at the same time as wages. The move will see more money in the pockets of Australians at retirement and help the regulator crack down on wage theft.

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“Some super funds shouldn’t be in the market”

With the release of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) ‘Choice Heatmap‘ which provides greater performance transparency and scrutiny on various multi-sector Choice investment options, Super Consumers Australia (SCA) released a media statement on 26/04/2023 (below) calling for more transparency and testing while emphasising the specific vulnerability of Australian retirees: “It is appalling that after…

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ACCC Social Media Report Finds Consumers and Small Businesses Require More Protections

The ACCC has highlighted a range of harms to consumers and small businesses occurring across social media services, including excessive data collection practices, lack of effective dispute resolution options, prevalence of scams, lack of transparency for advertisers and inadequate disclosure of sponsored content by influencers and brands.

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Federal Government to Act on Disrupting Illegal Text Message Scams

The Albanese Government has announced its intent to establish an SMS sender ID Registry or SMS Scam registry to help combat the increasingly large number of scam text messages being sent to Australians. From the 23/04/23 media release from the Minister for Communications, Hon Michelle Rowland MP: Almost half of all Australians have been scammed,…

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Customer-Owned Banks Urged to Improve Reporting

The Customer Owned Banking Code Compliance Committee (COBCCC) has warned customer owned banking institutions to improve reporting following the release of its 2021-22 Annual Data Report.

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2023 Consumers International Global Congress: Kenya

Consumers International’s (CI) Global Congress, an event held every four years to bring together the consumer movement and cross-sector influencers, has announced its 2023 location as Nairobi, Kenya from 6th-8th December.

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ASIC Report says Australian Banks are Failing Customers

Australia’s four major banks are failing their customers by taking a ‘variable and…less mature’ approach to scams than expected, with ‘inconsistent and narrow approaches to determining liability’ as well as gaps in how they detect and stop scam payments, according to Report 761 today from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).