Report Archives - Page 3 of 20 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

7 May , 2024

US Consumer Protection Body Publishes Research Finding Higher Price Complexity Leads to Consumers Paying More

The United States of America’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has published a new report, Price Complexity in Laboratory Markets, which indicates that complex pricings, or costs separated into various sub-prices, are typically more expensive and harder to compare – leading to consumers paying more. Based on the CFPB’s previous research, this increased complexity and…

1 May , 2024

Consumer Research on Defining Communication

Researchers from Deakin University and the Victorian University of Wellington are conducting an Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) funded project and are looking for participants. The goal of the project is to understand how ‘communication’ is understood by diverse consumers, with the view to better inform the regulation of digital communications technologies. Participation will…

25 April , 2024

Global Experiment Reveals a ‘worrying margin of harm’ in AI Chatbots

23 April 2024 Last month we brought together a powerful cohort of consumer advocate groups, international organisations, business, government and civil society to call for Fair and Responsible AI on World Consumer Rights Day Friday March 15. AI is changing how millions of us experience the online world. Within just five days of the release of ChatGPT last…

18 April , 2024

CALD Communities in need of urgent supports for energy transition

A new report released today has found improvements are needed to the quality of advice and supports, and to the service provided by retailers and other energy service providers, or culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) consumers risk being left behind in the energy transition. The joint Insights Report by Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) and Sydney Community Forum (SCF) is…

3 April , 2024

13 Years of ACMA Telecommunications Enforcement

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,…

15 March , 2024

Australians Want Regulation But Consumer Voice Missing in AI Debates

In light of World Consumer Rights Day and the 2024 theme, CHOICE and the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) have both released articles on artificial intelligence (AI) and the importance, and absence, of consumer voices when discussing use and regulation. Based on CHOICE’s recent research, almost 4 in 5 Australian’s think that business’s should be…

5 March , 2024

‘From Surviving to Thriving’ ICAN’s Report on Holistic Financial Counselling

In 2020, the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN) set out to widen the scope of its financial counselling services by looking at how it could deliver a holistic financial counselling framework that could better meet the financial and well-being needs of its service users. Over the past three years, ICAN has been developing a practice framework for its financial counselling services that embeds elements of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. Today ICAN has released the report: From surviving to thriving: Embedding a well-being framework into financial counselling practice that shares the learnings from this significant organisational undertaking.

28 February , 2024

No Say, No Knowledge, No Control: Personal Data in Australia

When was the last time you were certain that your data wasn’t being collected, shared, tracked or used in unfair business practices? A recently released joint research report from the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) ‘Singled Out: Consumer understanding – and misunderstanding – of data broking, data…

27 February , 2024

Federal Government Opens Consultation on Feasibility Study for Limiting Unhealthy Food Marketing to Children

The Federal Department of Health and Aged Care has engaged a project team led by the University of Wollongong to deliver a feasibility study on options to limit unhealthy food marketing to children. Recommendations will be provided to Government for consideration by mid-2024.

Information about the project and the consultation paper are available here and the closing date for comments is 15 March.

19 February , 2024

Health Insurers are Increasing their Top-Level Policy Prices by over 30%

“Over the past three years, average health insurance premiums across all levels went up by 8.6%, according to government data. However, our analysis found that the cost of top-level Gold hospital policies has increased by over 30% on average,” says CHOICE health insurance expert, Jodi Bird.

16 February , 2024

Results of UK Research on Grocery Unit Pricing Released

The results of recent research on grocery unit pricing (pricing per standardised unit of measurement) in the United Kingdom have been released by Competition and Markets Authority. The research involved: The Queensland Consumers Association says that many of the results are very relevant to grocery unit pricing in Australia including that: The CMA’s conclusions from…

16 February , 2024

MoneySmart Data Reveals Gender Disparity in Young Adult’s Financial Stress

New research released by ASIC’s Moneysmart has shed light on the financial concerns of Australian Gen Z women, revealing that they are more likely than Gen Z men to feel stressed and overwhelmed by finances and money.
“These findings demonstrate the importance of empowering young women to move past girl math and take control of their finances. Countless studies have shown financially literate people are better at budgeting and saving, managing mortgages and debt, planning for retirement, and growing their wealth. These behaviours aren’t inherent – they can be learnt at any age. That’s why we need to change the equation on girl math in 2024,”