consumer advocacy Archives - Page 9 of 9 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

23 October , 2023

Australian Financial Complaints Authority Latest ‘Systemic Issues Insights Report’

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.

19 October , 2023

CALC: Victoria Overrun with Lemon Cars as Current Dispute Process Totally Unfit for Consumers

“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,”

19 October , 2023

Dispute Resolution Process Unfit for Purpose

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.

1 September , 2023

Consumer Groups Advocate for Change as Consultations Open on Unfair Trading Practices

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.

11 August , 2023

Older People Must be Consulted on New Aged Care Act and New Principles for Aged Care Funding

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.

10 August , 2023

Governments Called to ‘Step Up’ to Ensure a Consumer-Focused Energy Future

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.

28 July , 2023

Record Number of Financial Complaints for Second Year in a Row

“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.”

19 June , 2023

Standards Australia Invites Applications for their Professional Development Program NEXTgen 2023/24

Standards Australia is inviting applications for their professional development program, NEXTgen.

19 June , 2023

Knock to Stay Connected: National Customer Code Welcomed by Consumer Groups

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.

26 May , 2023

Enforcement Action Taken Against Money3

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued against used car lender Money3, claiming that it failed to adequately train staff on relevant credit laws and did not ensure proper financial checks on the affordability of the loan were made.

22 May , 2023

Regulation of Buy Now, Pay Later Announced – Consumer Groups Respond

One year after 120 consumer groups signed an open letter to have BNPL regulated as conventional credit, the Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones MP has announced that BNPL will largely be brought in line with the Credit Act – though not all requirements will be applied.

Image 15 May , 2023

Designated Complaints Function Announced

From July 2024 select advocacy groups for consumers and small business will be able to lodge complaints with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – and the ACCC will be obligated to respond. From the website of Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh MP: