cost of living

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The Albanese Government is establishing the Insurance Affordability and Natural Hazards Risk Reduction Taskforce as part of the federal budget to develop an integrated, cross?government approach to minimising the impacts of disaster on the community and help address insurance costs driven by more frequent and intense weather events. The government is committed to working with insurers and…

Read More Insurance Affordability and Natural Hazards Risk Reduction Taskforce

Infographic on the ASIC report. Infographic and text-only version can be found at https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-104mr-asic-report-australians-need-better-hardship-support-from-their-lenders/ Infographic on the ASIC report. Infographic and text-only version can be found at https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2024-releases/24-104mr-asic-report-australians-need-better-hardship-support-from-their-lenders/

Some home loan lenders have made accessing financial assistance so difficult that more than one in three (35%) Australians dropped out of the application process at least once, according to a new ASIC report. The report, Hardship, hard to get help: Lenders fall short in financial hardship support (REP 783) outlines findings from ASIC’s review of 10…

Read More ASIC Report Highlights Industry Hardship Failures

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The groups emphasise the critical role of the Commissioner’s office in addressing the unique challengesof the strata sector, which currently houses 35% of NSW residents, with projections of 50% by 2040. “Despite the visionary establishment of the Strata and Property Services Commissioner’s Office, and thecommendable efforts of John Minns since his appointment, the office is…

Read More Consumer Groups Call for Increased Resourcing of NSW Strata & Property Services Commissioner as Strata Populations Increase

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The 14 recommendations of a Senate Select Committee inquiry into supermarket prices included several aimed at increasing the transparency of retail grocery prices for consumers. These recommendations included (in Recommendation 9 ) that: The Australian Government amend the Unit Pricing Code made under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, so that supermarkets are required to:…

Read More Senate Supermarket Inquiry Recommends Grocery Price Transparency

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New research from CHOICE has revealed 4 in 5 CHOICE supporters think it’s unfair for supermarkets to charge higher prices for customers who don’t sign up for loyalty programs.  The survey of over 8,000 CHOICE supporters also found nearly half of respondents were worried about the data being collected about them through loyalty programs. The…

Read More Supermarket Loyalty Programs: The Price Isn’t Right

Ian Jarratt of the Queensland Consumers Association in a supermarket with unit price labels in the background

The Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) is calling for the inquiries into supermarkets now being undertaken by a Senate Select Committee, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and a Queensland Parliament Select Committee to recommend improvements to the clarity of supermarket pricing. In submissions to each inquiry, the QCA says improvements are essential in order…

Read More Advocates Call For Supermarket Inquiries to Recommend Clearer Pricing

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More Australians will now have access to support from financial counsellors with the launch of the Financial Counselling Industry Fund (FCIF). The FCIF is the result of a collaboration between the financial counselling sector and a number of industries and companies – Australian Banking Association member banks, Australian Energy Council, Energy Networks Australia, Insurance Council…

Read More Financial Counselling Industry Fund Launches

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As a provider of education, advocacy, and financial counselling services to people across North and Far North Queensland, ICAN recently provided a submission to the Inquiry into Supermarket Pricing in Queensland. Our submission focused on the significant price differences people experience when shopping depending on whether they are based in metropolitan Queensland or remote and…

Read More The Price Is Not Right: ICAN’s Queensland Supermarket Submission

Logos for Consumers' Federation of Australia, Queensland Consumers Association, Consumers SA, Financial Counselling Australia, Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network, CHOICE, Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association

Last week the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) along with member organisations CHOICE, Queensland Consumers Association (QCA), Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), Consumers SA (South Australia), the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association (CPSA) and the Indigenous Consumers Assistance Network submitted our joint group submission to the 2024-25 ACCC Supermarket Inquiry. Generally, the submission calls for the…

Read More Joint Submission to the ACCC Supermarket Inquiry