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The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Limited (TIO) is seeking expressions of interest to appoint a Director with Consumer Experience, to commence in February 2024 with their first meeting in April.
The TIO promotes equal opportunity with a commitment to being inclusive and encouraging diversity.
Read More TIO Looking to Appoint Director with Consumer Experience
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People with a disability and older persons are some of the most vulnerable in Australia. They need to have their voice heard on issues that are important to them to protect and promote their rights. For this reason, the requirements established by a new Draft Standard on Ageing and Disability is to provide uniform minimum…
Read More Have Your Say: New Advocacy in Ageing and Disability Standard Opens for Public Consultation
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The Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) was recently contacted (below) by and about the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement’s new inquiry into cybercrime. As per our new Strategic Plan, CFA will not be writing up a separate submission but will instead network and assist members and other consumer advocates and organisations with their submissions.…
Read More Inquiry into the capability of law enforcement to respond to cybercrime
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The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has recently published (19/10/2023) its latest ‘Systemic Issues Insights Report’, covering the second half of the 2022 to 2023 financial year. During that time AFCA received 81 reports, 55 of which were related to systemic matters.
Read More Australian Financial Complaints Authority Latest ‘Systemic Issues Insights Report’
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“For years, Consumer Action has been saying we need to fix how we deal with car disputes. It shouldn’t be costing people years of their lives and thousands of dollars to get what they are owed under the law, and people shouldn’t be forced to drive or sell unsafe cars,”
Read More CALC: Victoria Overrun with Lemon Cars as Current Dispute Process Totally Unfit for Consumers
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In a recent report released by the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) more than half of Victorian’s who bought a car, used or new, in the past five years have experienced major or minor faults with their vehicle.
Read More Dispute Resolution Process Unfit for Purpose
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Almost a year after state and territory consumer ministers agreed to open consultation on options to address the gap in Australian Consumer Law (ACL) around unfair trading practices, Treasury has released a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (CRIS) and given stakeholders 91 days to respond starting 31st August and ending 29th November 2023.
Read More Consumer Groups Advocate for Change as Consultations Open on Unfair Trading Practices
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Older Australians will be asked to share their knowledge, insights and perspectives on our aged care system over the coming weeks as part of a consultation process looking at strengthening and improving the laws governing aged care.
The consultations follow the release of the Australian Government’s Consultation Paper on the new Aged Care Act – a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety – as well as the release of principles guiding aged care funding.
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Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) newly released report, Stepping Up: A Smoother Pathway to Decarbonising Homes (available here), has called on local, state/territory, and federal governments to collectively ‘step up’ and ensure everyone in Australia is supported and enabled to go all-electric. The policy report is based on research by CSIRO and Dynamic Analysis which has increased our understanding on the shared and individual costs of electrification for consumers.
Read More Governments Called to ‘Step Up’ to Ensure a Consumer-Focused Energy Future
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“We are deeply concerned by the volume of complaints consumers are having to escalate to AFCA,” chief ombudsman David Locke says. “It’s not fair on consumers and not good for business. We need to see a significant improvement from firms.”
Read More Record Number of Financial Complaints for Second Year in a Row
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Standards Australia is inviting applications for their professional development program, NEXTgen.
Read More Standards Australia Invites Applications for their Professional Development Program NEXTgen 2023/24
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Consumer groups and the financial counselling sector have welcomed the launch of a new customer code for the energy sector.
The Knock to Stay Connected customer code requires network companies to visit people at risk of disconnection and encourages them to outline the support and referral services available if the customer is having payment difficulties, with the aim of keeping them connected.
Read More Knock to Stay Connected: National Customer Code Welcomed by Consumer Groups
