News Archives - Page 8 of 56 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

9 February , 2024

First Nations Advocates Welcome Federal Government’s ‘enduring resolution’ for Youpla Policyholders

First Nations financial counsellors, advocates and policyholders from the Save Sorry Business Coalition have welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of an ‘enduring resolution’ for over 13,000 people harmed by Youpla and regulatory failures.

Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has briefed advocates that the government scheme will include people who were still making payments to ACBF/Youpla on or after 1 August 2015.

5 February , 2024

Industry Liability the Clear Path to Scam Reform

A coalition of advocacy groups, including Consumer Action Law Centre, CHOICE and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, have come out forcefully stating that customer reimbursement, paid for by industry through a customer’s own bank, must be at the centre of the Federal Government’s proposed new scam laws. The advocates say the new laws must be urgently implemented by the end of this year to stop the billions of dollars that are being lost by Australians every year to scammers.

31 January , 2024

FCA Announces Departure of CEO and New Appointments

After nearly 15 years in the role, Fiona Guthrie is stepping down as CEO of Financial Counselling Australia (FCA), the FCA board has announced.?

Fiona is leaving FCA to take up a new position as the CEO of Way Forward, a not-for-profit organisation that provides free assistance to people in financial hardship.

31 January , 2024

Consumer Advocates Call on Insurers to Act Now at Flood Insurance Inquiry

Consumer advocates call on insurers to act now at flood insurance inquiry

Urgent changes needed to improve claims handling process

A number of consumer advocacy groups – including CHOICE, Financial Rights Legal Centre, Consumer Action Law Centre, and Financial Counselling Australia – will be the first to appear today and tomorrow at a public hearing for the parliamentary inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims.

29 January , 2024

“Is it liveable?” CPRC and Tenants Victoria Rental Property Webinar

Consumer Policy Research Centre CEO Erin Turner will be facilitating the ‘Is it liveable?’ webinar with Tenants Victoria CEO Jennifer Beveridge on Wednesday February 7th at 4:00pm-4:30pm AEDT (GMT+11) to discuss the recent joint research project and report on the safety, cleanliness and liveability of rental properties. The webinar will feature discussion and analysis of…

25 January , 2024

CFA Supports Reforms to Merger Approvals

The Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) and CHOICE have provided a submission to the newly newly established Competition Taskforce on merger approvals. Australia has many markets that are highly concentrated; supermarkets, airlines, banking, telecommunications, energy and insurance are all markets where a few dominant companies provide most Australians with essential products and services. Increasingly, we…

17 January , 2024

New Telco Code Proposal Fails to Deliver

The Communications Alliance, the peak industry body for the Australian communications sector, has released a proposed framework and review package for the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code.

12 December , 2023

Global Consumer Alliance Urges Governments to Require Tech Companies to Protect People from Scams

9 out of 10 Australians also support strong penalties for digital platforms who fail to detect and prevent scams.

“Tech giants such as Facebook, Instagram and Google are failing to prevent scammers from using their platforms to target victims, causing enormous amounts of harm to consumers globally. In Australia, losses reported to Scamwatch from scams on social media have increased to over $66 million in 2023, an increase of more than 40% on the same time period in 2022,” says CHOICE Senior Campaigns and Policy Adviser, Alex Soderlund.

11 December , 2023

T’s & C’s In and Out of Australia

Yesterday, the High Court unanimously ruled in favour of the passengers. In so doing, it put companies doing business in Australia on notice that Australia’s consumer protection laws apply both inside and outside the country’s borders.

It decided the class action waiver was unfair to the passengers. This was because Australian consumer law prohibits unfair consumer contracts and because the express terms of that law apply to companies doing business in Australia, regardless of whether they are headquartered in Australia or overseas.

As the High Court explained, a price of a company doing business in Australia is that it must adhere to Australia’s consumer protection laws.

11 December , 2023

Building a Resilient Future – Day 3 of Consumers International Global Congress

A report from our Consumers International Global Congress representative, Deputy Chair Chandni Gupta Final day of the 2023 Global Congress and the pace remained fast and fascinating with enlightening presentations with a key focus on sustainability to close off the conference. Below are some highlights from Day 3. Sustainable appliances for a green transition An…

8 December , 2023

C is for Collaboration – Day 2 of Consumers International Global Congress

Today the Congress was abuzz with passionate consumer advocates, experts and regulators taking a deep dive into everything from scams and AI to greenwashing and digital wallets. But at the heart of so many discussions today was the value of and the critical need to collaborate. It was recognised that collaboration both within and across borders is needed to help raise the voices on key issues impacting consumers and to learn from one another. Below are some of the highlights from Day 2!

7 December , 2023

65% of People Don’t Trust Business to Use Their Data Responsibly: CHOICE

New research from CHOICE has revealed 65% of people don’t trust businesses to use their data responsibly and in their best interest – an increase of 25% from 2022.

“It’s no surprise more people don’t trust companies to use their data responsibly. Over the past year we’ve seen the terrible consequences data breaches can have for those affected by them, including at Medibank and Latitude,” says Senior Campaigns and Policy Advisor Rafi Alam.