Media release first posted 18/04/2023. The ACCC is asking parents and guardians for their views on childcare services in Australia, as part of its year-long inquiry into the sector. Parents and guardians are invited to complete a short online survey to share their experiences when looking for and using childcare services in Australia. The ACCC is seeking…
Read More Parents and Guardians Asked for Their Experience with Childcare
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has just released its 2022 Targeting Scams report in which it found an 80% increase in total losses compared to 2021. Using data from regulators and government agencies, the report highlights the need for further collaboration between government bodies, banks, regulators, telcos, and digital platforms to close “significant…
Read More ACCC Calls for United Front as Scammers Steal Over $3bn from Australians
Media release from CHOICE 18/04/2023. New national research from CHOICE has revealed over 40% of renters have been pressured to use RentTech to apply for a home – putting them at risk of data breaches, extra costs and exclusion from housing. Some tenants are also being forced to use these third-party rental platforms, such as…
Read More Your data, open for inspection: CHOICE raises alarm on RentTech
Below is a media release (12/04/2023) from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding current Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb’s speech to the National Press Club on the need to reform merger laws in Australia. A full transcript of the speech is available from the ACCC’s website here. Australia’s merger laws are no longer fit for…
Read More ACCC: Reform of merger laws critical for Australia’s economic transition
The trend towards digital and cashless banking is already negatively impacting many vulnerable Australians as COTA (Council on the Ageing) highlighted in their recent media release, as seen below: The closure of cash services at bank branches risks cutting off access to vital and basic banking services for many older Australians, particularly our most vulnerable,…
Read More COTA: Don’t lock vulnerable Australians out of banking
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), along with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), has found that while direct debit may work for some consumers direct debits automatic system and lack of flexibility created unfair additional costs and financial distress for vulnerable consumers. In a media release (05/04/2023) ACCAN said: A thriving and competitive…
Read More Direct Debit for Telcos and Utilities a Problem for Vulnerable Consumers
From the Consumer Policy Research Centre, originally released here on 29/03/2023. The latest research from the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC), has found that most Australians don’t feel businesses are doing enough to keep their data safe. While 84 per cent agree a company should be responsible for keeping their data safe, only 15 per…
Read More 6 Out of 7 Australians Don’t Feel Their Data is Safe with Businesses
Following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Digital Platform Services inquiry in 2019, and the Treasury’s recent follow-up consultation the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) placed a submission late February 2023 to expand their remit from telecommunications to digital platform services (e.g. search engines, apps). The TIO has supported the proposal for a Digital Platforms…
Read More TIO Submission for Digital Platforms Ombudsman
March 28th was a day of action for First Nations advocates a year after the federal government established an interim scheme so that some of the families harmed by Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund/Youpla could conduct the important cultural practice of Sorry Business. The Save Sorry Business coalition used this day of action to call for…
Read More Save Sorry Business Day of Action
Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) engaged Boardroom Energy to research the problems for consumers that shifts away from gas will likely cause. This is especially important because gas networks are shared assets, if more people leave the gas network due to decarbonisation and changes to energy access and pricing then remaining gas users are likely to…
Read More ‘Risk to gas consumers of declining demand’
The following is a media release from Super Consumers Australia, released 21/03/2023 Super Consumers’ national consumer survey finds that two in three Australians agree that super should be paid at the same time as wages. This is in contrast to the three months the law currently allows employers to pay super. Super Consumers Australia is…
Read More Australians want super paid on time
Consumers International has recently released a white paper on ‘Consumer protection and empowerment for a clean energy future’ centred on the “twin challenge” of switching to sustainable and affordable alternatives in an increasingly shorter timeframe while ensuring consumers are represented and helped through and with the process. The report focuses on how “consumer protection and…
Read More Consumers International Whitepaper – ‘Consumer protection and empowerment for a clean energy future’