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CFA has made a submission to the federal government on its draft new Grocery Unit Pricing Industry Code of Conduct. The submission disagrees strongly with the conclusions of the review of the current Code and with the proposed new Code’s provisions (which are identical to those of the current Code). It also argues that implementation…

Read More CFA and member organisations call for changes to proposed new federal Unit Pricing Code

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Super fund lobby groups have dumped a code of conduct that could have improved how funds handle life insurance claims. Consumer groups Super Consumers Australia and Financial Rights Legal Centre are calling out a self-interested move from industry lobby groups including the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), the Association of Super Funds Australia (ASFA)…

Read More Super lobby groups fail to keep promises to consumers

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The Banking Code Compliance Committee (BCCC) has published its 2021-24 Strategic Plan and 2021-22 Business Plan. The  2021-24 Strategic Plan outlines the areas we will focus on to achieve our purpose for the period 2021–22 to 2023–24, including taking action to: improve the visibility of the BCCC enhance our intelligence sources and identify important issues expand our engagement with consumer stakeholders…

Read More BCCC publishes 2021-24 Strategic Plan and 2021-22 Business Plan

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The Standards Australia NEXTgen 2021-22 Program selects emerging industry and technical experts and provides them with an exciting opportunity to become involved in the national and international standardisation processes developing important standards of benefit to the Australian community.  The goal of the program is to support the future of standards development through investing in the next generation of…

Read More Get involved in the development of Australian standards with NEXTgen 2021-22 programs

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A follow-up inquiry into consumer credit insurance (CCI) has shown that, while customer owned banking institutions have stopped selling add-on CCI, they still have a duty to their customers when it comes to managing loans with active policies and providing referrals to insurance providers. The independent committee that monitors the Customer Owned Banking Code of…

Read More Customer Owned Banking Code Compliance Committee report shows consumer credit insurance obligations are ongoing

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The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today released five compliance and enforcement priorities for 2021-22, which include a major focus on protecting energy consumers. This is an Australian Energy Regulator (AER) media release, originally published on 23rd June, 2021. AER Chair Clare Savage said the AER will be monitoring retailers to ensure they identify residential consumers in…

Read More AER’s 2021-2022 compliance and enforcement priorities: Consumer protection

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A draft report by the Productivity Commission on a ‘right to repair’ outlines some measures governments could take to assist consumers to get their products repaired. Written submissions or brief comments must be made by Friday 23 July 2021. The Commission is also holding public hearings using a video and teleconferencing service, with the option…

Read More Draft Report on “Right to Repair” Released for Comment

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The Consumers’ Federation of Australia is delighted to congratulate consumer advocates Susan Fraser and David Niven on being awarded Medals of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Sue Fraser leads Uniting’s (formerly Kildonan) Enterprise Partnerships team consulting to the banking, debt collection, utilities and telecommunications sectors, enabling positive financial outcomes for…

Read More Queens Birthday Honours for Consumer Advocates

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The ACCC welcomes legislative changes which will increase competition and choice for consumers about where they have their cars serviced and repaired. These changes adopt recommendations from the ACCC’s new car retailing industry market study. This is an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) media release, originally published on 18th June, 2021. The Competition and Consumer Amendment…

Read More ACCC welcomes new law on motor vehicle service and repair information

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Last year scammers stole close to $34 million collectively from people who identified as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), people with disability, and Indigenous Australians. This is an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) media release, originally published on 10th June, 2021. Figures from the ACCC’s latest Targeting Scams report released earlier this week shows losses to the…

Read More Culturally and linguistically diverse community lose $22 million to scams in 2020, reports from Indigenous Australians up by 25 per cent