Tips and advice

John Trowbridge, a consultant and insurance industry expert who has been conducting an independent review into strata insurance, has released a handbook for navigating strata insurance, available for free here. The Disclosure Handbook is designed as a reference guide for owners, strata committees, strata managers and brokers. It has been prepared on completion of an…

Read More Free Strata Insurance Handbook Released

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Gift cards are very convenient and popular presents to buy at this time of year. However the Queensland Consumers Association advises buyers to choose ones that will be useful to the receiver, have fair terms and conditions, and have reasonable fees. This is a media release from Queensland Consumers Association. It was originally published on 9th December, 2021.…

Read More Gift card buying tips

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Over 90 per cent of identified unsafe product listings were removed within two business days by online businesses signed up to the Australian Product Safety Pledge. This is a media release from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). It was originally published on 19th November, 2021. The voluntary initiative commits signatories to 12 product safety actions, that go…

Read More ACCC’s product safety pledge improves consumer safety online

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Prepared by Ian Jarratt, Queensland Consumers Association, Australia. Email: ijarratt@australiamail.com. Australia Unit pricing review The results of the federal government’s review of the mandatory Grocery Unit Pricing Code, which started in November 2018, have still not been announced. Unless renewed, the Code will cease to exist on 1 October 2021. The previous 1 October 2019…

Read More Unit Pricing (pricing per unit of measure) global update – March 2021

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The COVID-19 epidemic has raised concerns around supply chains and the need for more innovation. So how can organisations be innovative enough in order to deal with an increasingly uncertain world? Standards Australia has recently published three AS ISO standards on  Innovation management — about guidance, vocabulary, and tools and methods for innovative partnerships. A Consumers Federation…

Read More Innovate or perish —Standards Australia publishes standards on innovation management

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Having difficulty understanding the jargon of your builder or plumber? Different terminology makes it confusing to understand exactly what is needed. The free online National Dictionary of Building and Plumbing Terms aims to assist consumers, industry and government to understand the range of terminology used to describe the same or similar terms and processes across Australia. Standards…

Read More Building or renovating? Free online dictionary for building and plumbing terms

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The consumer peak body, the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA), strongly welcomes the start of a new national consumer education campaign aimed at increasing grocery shopper awareness and use of the unit prices provided on shelf labels and the internet by many grocery retailers. The campaign is being run by the national and state/territory consumer…

Read More CFA welcomes start of a national education campaign to help grocery shoppers get better value for money

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Consumers’ Federation of Australia member CHOICE has priced national brand groceries at Coles, Woolwoths and Aldi. Read CHOICE’s article to see where to find products for the cheapest price and how to use unit pricing to check which pack size ofers the best value for money. Our price survey found that products from national brands…

Read More Cadbury, Coca Cola, Colgate. Which supermarket is cheapest for national brands?

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Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is advising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers to protect themselves after it was revealed they had lost millions of dollars to scammers. Fair Trading Executive Director Brian Bauer said Indigenous Australians last year reported more than 2,700 scams resulting in $2.1 million in losses, and that figure was…

Read More Indigenous Australians lose millions to scammers

two people texting on smartphones two people texting on smartphones

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) today launched the next phase of its action plan to combat scams, unveiling a suite of new resources designed to help Australians protect themselves on their home and mobile phones from scams. Chair of the ACMA’s Scam Taskforce Fiona Cameron said scammers are using the COVID-19 pandemic to take advantage of…

Read More ACMA moves to protect Australians from phone scams