Post thumbnail

Thousands of customers on a standing offer contract across New South Wales, South-East Queensland and South Australia will share in over $65 million of bill savings in 2021-22 following the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) today releasing the final Default Market Offer (DMO). This is an Australian Energy Regulator media release, originally published on 27th April, 2021. The final…

Read More Electricity Customers on a standing offer will share in over $65 million of bill savings

Post thumbnail

The federal government is consulting on a Draft Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) containing options for changes to the FSANZ Act. The draft RIS and information on how to participate in the consultation are available here. The closing date for submissions is 18 May 2021. The Act is one of the main pieces of legislation and…

Read More Consultation on options for changes to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Act 1991

Post thumbnail

Australians have already lost over $288,000 to vehicle scams in the first quarter of this year, more than all losses reported to Scamwatch in 2019, and scammers have now begun impersonating defence personnel to con their victims. This is an ACCC media release, originally published on 27th April, 2021. In a vehicle scam, scammers post fake…

Read More Losses to car ad scams climbing

Post thumbnail

The Morrison Government is helping maximise opportunities for Australia’s manufacturers while also driving down emissions and protecting the environment, with funding. This is a joint media release from Minister for the Environment, the Hon Sussan Ley MP and Federal Member for Chisholm, the Hon Gladys Liu MP, originally published on 23rd April, 2021. Batteries are…

Read More Morrison Government powering up household battery recycling

Post thumbnail

In a six week period from mid-March 2020, the ACCC received 33 applications for authorisation of competitor collaborations to deal with disruption and risks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this unprecedented number of urgent applications, the ACCC deployed substantial resources and used streamlined processes to grant interim and final authorisations in extremely…

Read More Competition exemptions in the time of COVID-19

Post thumbnail

In a report released today, the Banking Code Compliance Committee (BCCC) has stated the impact of COVID-19 on banks’ compliance with the Banking Code of Practice (the Code) appears to be less significant than expected. However, breaches overall increased significantly during the 2019–20 financial year. This is a BCCC media release, originally published on 20th April, 2021.…

Read More Limited impact of COVID-19 on bank compliance

Post thumbnail

CFA has endorsed the joint consumer submission to the Treasury Review of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). Contributors to this submission have supported and represented thousands of people in disputes with financial services providers and superannuation funds over many years. This includes extensive experience with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), as well as its predecessor schemes,the Financial…

Read More Joint consumer submission to the Review of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority

Post thumbnail

A new issue of the Unit Pricing Global Update, a newsletter prepared six monthly by the Queensland Consumers Association, has been released and is available here. It contains short items about unit pricing in, or research on it for, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Japan, and the European Union. The section on Australia includes the results…

Read More New global update on unit pricing newsletter released by consumer group

Post thumbnail

Prepared by Ian Jarratt, Queensland Consumers Association, Australia. Email: ijarratt@australiamail.com. Australia Unit pricing review The results of the federal government’s review of the mandatory Grocery Unit Pricing Code, which started in November 2018, have still not been announced. Unless renewed, the Code will cease to exist on 1 October 2021. The previous 1 October 2019…

Read More Unit Pricing (pricing per unit of measure) global update – March 2021

Post thumbnail

The Code Review Panel for the Retirement Living Code has published its inaugural Annual Report. The report confirms that in Australia today, more than 46% of retirement village residents are living in a Code Compliant community. The Code Review Panel comprises Dr Elizabeth Lanyon (Independent Chair of the Code Review Panel), Peter Nilsson (Operator Representative),…

Read More Retirement Living Code of Conduct – Annual Report