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The Board of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) today announced the appointment of Ms Carol Bennett as Chief Executive Officer for the organisation with effect from 8 July 2024. Carol is a highly respected leader with a remarkable track record of delivering positive change for consumers and communities in all her previous CEO…
Read More ACCAN Appoints Carol Bennett as New CEO
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The Productivity Commission is undertaking a study to assess the economic effects of national competition reforms. It is now inviting community members to share perspectives, experiences and expertise on national competition matters and modelling competition reforms. The Commission’s review is occurring against a backdrop of declining productivity growth in the past decade. As such, a…
Read More Submission Call for National Competition Policy
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Below is the Centre for Media Transition’s website post on The Enforcement of Telecommunications Consumer Protections and the accompanying media release on the report by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN). The website posts were released on 3/04/2024 and are available here (https://www.uts.edu.au/research/centre-media-transition/projects-and-research/enforcement-telecommunications-consumer-protections) and here (https://accan.org.au/media-centre/media-releases/2288-uts-enforcement-report). As noted by both the report and ACCAN,…
Read More 13 Years of ACMA Telecommunications Enforcement
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The telecommunications regulator, the ACMA, has developed a new regulation called the Telecommunications (Financial Hardship) Industry Standard (the FH standard). The FH Standard will commence on March 29, and compliance is mandatory.
Read More ACCAN’s Quick Guide for Consumers to the new Financial Hardship Standard
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The Federal Court has found Vanguard Investments Australia contravened the law by making misleading claims about certain environmental, social and governance (ESG) exclusionary screens applied to investments in a Vanguard index fund. At a hearing before Justice O’Bryan on 8 March 2024, Vanguard admitted to engaging in conduct that was liable to mislead the public…
Read More ASIC Wins Greenwashing Case Against Vanguard
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First Nations and other consumer advocates have welcomed the extension of ASIC’s interim Stop Order on Coral Coast Distributors (Cairns) Ptd Ltd trading as Urban Rampage (Urban Rampage) retail stores, where customers enter agreements to pay for goods on credit through Centrepay deductions. The original stop order was imposed because ASIC received complaints about Urban…
Read More Continued Ban of Business Centrepay Use in Remote Australia Welcomed as Advocates Call for Broader Centrepay Reform
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“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.
Read More Consumers Respond to ACCC: Higher Grocery Prices Force Many to Sacrifice
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Yesterday the Parliament passed the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024. This reform, which forms part of the Albanese Government’s Better Competition election commitment, establishes a designated complaints function within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) from July 2024. Today the Albanese Government releases the draft designated…
Read More Consultation Opens as Parliament Passes Designated Complaints Measure
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Need to know Financial counsellors are sounding the alarm about an “irresponsible” car loan provider targeting people on low incomes. These consumer advocates say Money3 Loans is failing to properly assess whether its customers can pay off the loans, and is charging exorbitant interest rates on top of that. Last year the Australian Securities and…
Read More “Irresponsible” Car Loans on a “broader scale”: Consumers and advocates speak out against Money3 as ASIC sues over alleged breaches
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The ACCC has released its final report outlining the findings of an inquiry into whether nine wholesale telecommunications services should continue to be regulated. Access to telecommunications services in Australia is usually unregulated unless the services are declared. In deciding whether to declare a service, the ACCC must be satisfied that declaration would promote the long-term interests…
Read More ACCC Announces Changes to Wholesale Telecommunications Regulation
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On 20 March 2023, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services commenced an inquiry into the wholesale investor test for offers of securities (Section 708 of Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act 2001) and the wholesale client test for financial products and services (Sections 761G & 761GA of Chapter 7 of the Act) (referred…
Read More Inquiry into Wholesale Investor and Wholesale Client Tests
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The Australian Finance Industry Association (AFIA) is reviewing its Car Rental Code. Signatories of this code include Avis Budget Group, Hertz, Europcar, Thrifty, East Coast Car Rentals, Sixt, Bayswater Car Rental and Redspot/Enterprise. The Code ensures an industry standard is met on a number of issues, including transparency of pricing and credit card charging practices,…
Read More Seeking CFA Member to Prepare a Submission to a Review of the AFIA Car Rental Code
