Children Archives - Consumers' Federation of Australia

7 May , 2025

Mandatory information standard for toppling furniture now in affect

Furniture suppliers are now required to provide safety warnings to consumers about the dangers of toppling furniture after the mandatory information standard for toppling furniture came into effect on 4 May 2025. Since the year 2000 at least 28 people, including 17 children under five, have died in Australia from toppling furniture and televisions. Each year more…

20 February , 2025

Beyond the Label: Misleading Marketing for Baby and Toddler Food

As part of their ‘Our Kids are Sweet Enough’ campaign the Food for Health Alliance has recently released a report, Beyond the label: seeing past marketing on baby and toddler foods in Australia. The Beyond the label report highlights the use of misleading marketing tactics on food packaging to lead parents and caregivers to believe…

26 November , 2024

Child-Resistant Packaging – Draft Standard Open for Public Comment

Child-resistant packaging is used to create a physical barrier between a child and a potentially hazardous product. Various types of packaging are recognized as being child-resistant, based on performance testing against standards for specific product categories and packaging types. Since this type of packaging was introduced, the incidence of accidental ingestion of potentially hazardous products…

11 November , 2024

CFA Supports Call for Action to Protect Children from Unhealthy Food Marketing

In an open letter to Health Ministers, CFA and many other organisations have called for action to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy food by: A copy of the letter is available here

22 October , 2024

Consultation Opens on ‘Phase Two’ of Online Safety Codes

Following the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth.), industry associations have been tasked with developing codes of practice to protect Australians from a number of materials online. The draft codes for phase two, covering Classes 1C and 2 materials, have now been released and are available for public comment here. Consultation will be open from October…

17 October , 2024

Children’s safety in the metaverse – Draft standard open for Public Comment

The metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, where you can socialise, collaborate, learn, and play with others across different digital worlds. The metaverse may offer new opportunities for creativity, education, entertainment, and commerce, but there are also new challenges where metaverse technologies can have a significant impact on young users’ mental health and well-being. Children…

6 August , 2024

Safety Warnings Issued for Children’s Seat Head Straps and Self-Feeding Baby Bottles

The ACCC is investigating the safety of aftermarket children’s car seat head straps and baby bottle self-feeding devices, after the Assistant Treasurer issued Safety Warning Notices for each of the products. The safety warning notices warn consumers of the possible risks of injury or death to infants and children associated with the use of these products. “The ACCC…

26 July , 2024

Mandatory Safety Standards for Infant Products Introduced

The Albanese Government has implemented the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s recommendation to make new mandatory safety and information standards for infant sleep products. The ACCC estimates that parents tragically lose ten babies every year due to unsafe sleeping and inclined non?sleep products in Australia. The Government’s new mandatory standards will aim to reduce the…

8 May , 2024

New Toppling Furniture Laws Introduced

Furniture suppliers will be required to provide safety warnings to consumers about the dangers of toppling furniture hazards, after the Assistant Treasurer, the Hon. Stephen Jones, made a new information standard for toppling furniture. Since 2000, 28 people, including 17 children under five, have died in Australia from toppling furniture, and each year more than 900…

28 March , 2024

Consumers Respond to ACCC: Higher Grocery Prices Force Many to Sacrifice

“Taking into account the demographics of those who have already responded, we particularly want to hear from more adults under the age of 30, people for whom English is not their first language, and people in rural and regional parts of Australia.”

“Having responses that reflect the whole community’s experience will help us to identify the right issues that need to be explored more deeply in our inquiry. Findings from the consumer survey will be included as part of the ACCC’s interim report, due by the end of August,” Mr Keogh said.

12 March , 2024

FCA Calls for In-Program Gambling Ads to be Removed from Survivor

“This is completely inappropriate,” said Lauren Levin, The Director of Policy and Campaigns at FCA. “It was shown at a time when children would be watching. ‘Set for Life’ is exposing children to a gambling product and we know gambling can be very harmful.”

One of the contestants won a challenge and part of her prize was a ‘Set for Life’ package worth $60,000. The logo was displayed a number of times during show segments and the product was also mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the episode.

27 February , 2024

Federal Government Opens Consultation on Feasibility Study for Limiting Unhealthy Food Marketing to Children

The Federal Department of Health and Aged Care has engaged a project team led by the University of Wollongong to deliver a feasibility study on options to limit unhealthy food marketing to children. Recommendations will be provided to Government for consideration by mid-2024.

Information about the project and the consultation paper are available here and the closing date for comments is 15 March.