Articles

Anonymous female in outerwear standing on pavement near old house with ribbed columns and bright red bike with basket while looking away on city street Anonymous female in outerwear standing on pavement near old house with ribbed columns and bright red bike with basket while looking away on city street

The NSW Government is seeking feedback on a draft Information Standard for e-micromobility products under the Fair Trading Regulation 2019 (the Regulation). E-micromobility products include e-scooters, e-bikes, e-skateboards, self-balancing hoverboards and their associated chargers. The following documents are available for feedback: The Information Standard complements the product quality requirements that will be in place from next year. These controls aim to…

Read More NSW Lithium-Ion Battery Information Standard Feedback

Post thumbnail

The notification for the Consumers’ Federation of Australia’s 2024 Annual General Meeting has been sent out and we’re busy preparing everything for the AGM. The AGM is scheduled for Thursday 28th November at 12:00opm-1:00pm AEDT, we look forward to seeing you there! As part of the preparations, we would like to remind all of our…

Read More Consumers’ Federation of Australia: Annual General Meeting

laptop, conference table, mouse-7978588.jpg laptop, conference table, mouse-7978588.jpg

The ACCC will conduct a series of public hearings from 7 to 22 November as part of its ongoing Supermarkets Inquiry. The public hearings will be livestreamed via the ACCC website and will be an opportunity for the ACCC to gain a more complete understanding of the key issues in the retail grocery sector and its…

Read More Public Hearings for Supermarket Inquiry to be Livestreamed

house, home, insurance-7716235.jpg house, home, insurance-7716235.jpg

Consumer groups have welcomed the release of the Final Report of the Standing Committee on Economics’ Inquiry into Insurer’s responses to 2022 Major Floods. The groups have called on the insurance sector and the Insurance Council of Australia to accept all the recommendations and implement changes to their internal processes and the Code of Practice…

Read More Advocates Welcome Flood Inquiry Report, Urge Government to Act Now

Post thumbnail

Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) has welcomed the Federal Government announcement of the next round of grants for Financial Wellbeing and Capability programs.  ? Applications are now open for the following grant programs:  Closed grant processes will follow for the National Debt Helpline, No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS), NILS for Vehicles, Saver Plus and Financial Counselling and…

Read More Grants Open for Financial Wellbeing and Capability

Post thumbnail

The metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, where you can socialise, collaborate, learn, and play with others across different digital worlds. The metaverse may offer new opportunities for creativity, education, entertainment, and commerce, but there are also new challenges where metaverse technologies can have a significant impact on young users’ mental health and well-being. Children…

Read More Children’s safety in the metaverse – Draft standard open for Public Comment

Shared vision for a better world; Standards for SDGs, World Standards Day 14 October, IEC, ISO, ITU

Shared vision for a better world: Spotlight on SDG 9 Industry, innovation, and infrastructure in the age of AI Standards are voluntary technical agreements that impact almost every part of our daily lives. They ensure that products and services work the way that we expect them to, making life safer and easier. There’s a role…

Read More World Standards Day 14 October 2024

Post thumbnail

Consumer group CHOICE has welcomed the Federal Government’s plans to strengthen unit pricing by reviewing the rules and introducing strong penalties for non-compliance.  Quotes attributable to Deputy Director of Campaigns, Andy Kelly: “CHOICE welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement to improve the rules around grocery unit pricing. Currently, supermarkets can’t be penalised for poor unit pricing and…

Read More CHOICE Welcomes Federal Government’s Announcement to Strengthen Unit Pricing Rules

puzzle, to learn, arrangement-320754.jpg puzzle, to learn, arrangement-320754.jpg

A broad coalition of consumer advocates is calling for the Albanese Government to make one fundamental change to the proposed Scams Prevention Framework (SPF) and put reimbursement at its core, warning that without this improvement the SPF is not going to work for the tens of thousands of Australia’s robbed by scammers. The group’s call…

Read More Advocates Warn Scams Prevention Framework Needs Assumption of Reimbursement, Not Halfway Measures

Post thumbnail

A report from the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO) of a 14.6% reduction in consumer complaints over the past year is unlikely to be an indication of improved satisfaction with communications services.  The reduction in complaints is more likely to indicate that telco consumers are increasingly giving up on the complaints process. Over 50% of consumers…

Read More Advocates Warn that Telco Complaint Reduction a Sign of Consumers Giving Up on Process

Post thumbnail

The ACCC welcomed today’s announcement by the Treasurer of $30 million over 3.5 years in additional funding for investigations and enforcement relating to the supermarket and retail sector. ACCC Chair Cass-Gottlieb said the additional resources would allow for a significant enhancement of the ACCC’s enforcement and compliance activities in an essential sector relied upon by…

Read More Additional Funding for Investigation and Enforcement of Retail and Supermarket Sectors Welcomed