AusPol Archives - Page 11 of 14 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

15 February , 2019

Going further with a financial counselling review

The Coalition Government has agreed to take action on all 76 recommendations contained in the Royal Commission’s Final Report and, in a number of important areas, is going further, including conducting an immediate review of financial counselling services. In his Final Report, Commissioner Hayne observed, “The desirability of predictable and stable funding for the legal…

13 February , 2019

Still time to have your say on unit pricing

The future of a federal regulation that requires large supermarkets to provide the unit price (price per unit of measure – such as per 100g and per litre) on shelf labels, etc. for packaged grocery items is being reviewed by the Federal Government. The review includes a short online consumer survey which can be accessed…

6 February , 2019

Consumer groups respond to Royal Commission 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…

4 February , 2019

Labor proposes ‘super complaints’ policy

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,…

25 January , 2019

Labor makes unfair contract terms illegal

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…

10 January , 2019

Advocates call for changes to superannuation sector

People will be hundreds of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement if the Federal Government doesn’t act now to stop the superannuation sector eroding savings. Today the Productivity Commission has released its plan to reverse the outdated structure that has led to poor performing funds, multiple accounts and zombie insurance policies. Fixing these problems…

16 December , 2018

Gift card win for consumers

The Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) has welcomed the federal government’s decision to not allow gift card issuers to charge customers for disputing gift card transactions. Draft regulations released for comment in October allowed such charges but they are not in the final registered Regulations, which will apply to gift cards supplied on or after 1…

10 December , 2018

Consumers welcome changes to federal review of grocery unit pricing

Consumer organizations have welcomed the federal government’s decision today to extend until 28 February the consultation period for the review of grocery unit pricing previously due to close on 18 December. The Queensland Consumers Association (QCA), the Consumers Federation of Australia (the peak body of Australian consumer groups) and Choice had all asked for the…

1 December , 2018

Energy prices are coming down

Over 458,000 Australian families and 39,000 small businesses are getting a better deal on their energy prices thanks to pressure from the Morrison Government on the big energy companies to put customers first. Origin Energy and Alinta have today joined AGL, EnergyAustralia, Next Business Energy, WINconnect, and PowerShop in lowering standing offers on 1 January…

1 December , 2018

Federal Labor promises crack down on ticket gouging

Labor will give Aussie sports and music fans a fair go, cracking down on ticket gouging which locks fans out of major events. Labor will introduce a national ban on the use of ticket-buying bot software, which flood ticket websites to purchase the most tickets possible, causing ordinary consumers to miss out. It is estimated bots account…

1 December , 2018

First National Framework to help reduce harm from online wagering

All Australian governments are now formally committed to the country’s first National Consumer Protection Framework to ensure greater protection for people participating in online wagering. Federal Minister for Families and Social Services, Paul Fletcher, said the National Consumer Protection Framework for online wagering provides 10 strong, nationally consistent minimum protections for consumers of Australian interactive wagering services. “The National…

22 November , 2018

Have your say on Grocery Unit Pricing

The Morrison Government wants to hear from people and retailers whether the requirement to display the unit price of grocery staples, together with the “headline” price, needs reconsideration, before the current law lapses in October 2019. Those grocery retailers that are subject to the Retail Grocery Industry (Unit Pricing) Code of Conduct (the Code) must…