Everyday Consumer Archives - Page 26 of 106 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

15 August , 2023

Submission to House of Representatives Inquiry calls for improvements to grocery unit pricing

The Queensland Consumers Association’s submission (#56) to a House of Representatives Inquiry says changes are needed to the grocery unit pricing (pricing per unit of measure) system to make it much easier for consumers to compare grocery prices and values.

The submission also strongly supports the Consumers Federation of Australia’s submission to the inquiry which includes support for demand-side initiatives to promote competition and recommendations on unit pricing.

15 August , 2023

Inquiry into Price Gouging and Unfair Pricing Practices Launched by the ACTU

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has recently announced an inquiry into price gouging and unfair pricing practices to be chaired by Professor Allan Fells AO.

The announcement comes just after the OECD released a research report which found that “historically high corporate profits”, rather than wages, was the leading cause for inflation in Australia. With the OECD suggesting corporate profits may account for an average of 51% of inflation in recent years.

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.

10 August , 2023

New Zealand Starts to Implement Mandatory Grocery Unit Pricing

New Zealand has passed Regulations that require many instore and online grocery retailers to provide the unit price (price per standard unit of measure) for most products sold.

However, for instore retailers the Regulations will only come fully into force in August 2024 and for online retailers in August 2025.

9 August , 2023

Data Breaches Seen as Number One Privacy Concern

There has been a sharp increase in the number of Australians who feel data breaches are the biggest privacy risk they face today, according to a major survey released today by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

9 August , 2023

Consumer Struggles and Insurance Market Failures Highlighted in New Report

A joint research project report, ‘Weathering the Storm: Insurance in a changing climate’, released this Tuesday has highlighted the critical state of insurance as premiums once more rise for 87% of Australians. Released by CHOICE in partnership with the Climate Council, Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), Financial Rights Legal Centre, and the NSW Tenants’ Union the…

8 August , 2023

UK’s New Consumer Duty – How Does it Compare with Australia?

In 2021, CFA published this post about the development of a new “consumer duty” for financial services. It’s now 2023, and the new duty is now incorporated into the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory handbook. So what is it, and how does it compare with Australia’s consumer protections? What is the new Consumer Duty? The duty…

7 August , 2023

ANZ’s Proposed Suncorp Acquisition Denied by ACCC

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has decided not to grant merger authorisation for ANZ Banking Group (ASX:ANZ) to acquire Suncorp Group’s (ASX:SUN) banking arm.
“We are not satisfied that the acquisition is not likely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of home loans nationally, small to medium enterprise banking in Queensland, and agribusiness banking in Queensland,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.

3 August , 2023

Consumers International Digital Update: Cyber Trust Mark and Personalised Pricing

This month Consumers International’s (CI) update on the digital world covered some interesting developments and research in the consumer world including CHOICE’s recent article on facial recognition technology (FRT) used in half of Australia’s stadiums (found here), and the recent Members Connect series on building consumer trust in generative AI, whose panel included ETDA Thailand and the BEUC.

But perhaps the most exciting updates were the ones from the United States of America and the European Union.

2 August , 2023

Regulator acts to improve grocery unit pricing in the UK

“To assist consumers with the cost of living crisis and the high rate of grocery price inflation, the ACCC and the Federal Government should follow the UK’s example and take action now to substantially improved the quality of the unit pricing provided by Australian grocery retailers and to improve the Grocery Unit Pricing Code administered by the ACCC.”

1 August , 2023

Meta Companies Penalised $20m for Onavo Protect VPN’s Misleading Claims

Virtual Private Networks or VPNs are a method by which people can more securely use and access public internet connections, reduce some communication costs, and bypass internet censorship. The privacy and protection of personal information is an important selling point of VPNs and one that was used to sell Onavo Protect in the Google and…