CPRC

Detours and Roadblocks

liliana — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 16:00:46 +0000

Faulty cars are far too common and disrupt too many lives.

This report:

Key findings

Too many people are sold faulty cars

54% of Victorians who have purchased a car in the last five years experienced what they identified as a major fault, a minor fault or multiple minor faults with a car. Many faults are serious enough that people should have rights to complain under the ACL

Many cars fail soon after they are purchased

36% of faults were discovered in the first three months

59% of faults were discovered in the first year of ownership

17% of Victorian car owners experienced a major fault that affected their ability to drive their car

Faulty cars also have broader negative impacts on other areas of life

55% of people with a faulty car experienced a detrimental non-financial impact, including employment challenges, family impacts, and personal safety impacts

Fixing faulty cars is often expensive

$1,000+ 59%

59% of people with faulty cars spent more than $1,000 trying to resolve the problem

$10,000+ 24%

24% spent more than $10,000 resolving the problem

Dealers fail to help people, even when they legally should — consumers are often put off by dealers

61%

61% of people who could have raised an issue with their dealership did not do so as they believed the process would be too hard, or that they weren’t entitled to a warranty.

46 %

46% of people who did get a repair, replacement or refund from a manufacturer or dealer had difficulty getting this result.

26 %

26% of people who had the dealer fix their car had the same problem recur.

28 %

28% of people who had the dealer fix their car had a new problem arise.

What can we do to improve this?

Step one: Make the process of complaining about a car accessible, fair, and effective.

The Victorian Government needs to establish a dispute resolution body that is accessible, independent, fair, accountable, efficient and effective. We believe that the best existing model we have for external dispute resolution is the ombuds schemes established for a range of consumer-facing services from transport to telecommunications to energy. Ombuds schemes help offer free-to-consumer efficient and fair dispute resolution support.
Step two: Help people get their vehicle fault resolved sooner.

The Victorian Government could strengthen dealer licensing obligations to improve the quality of customer care, and to encourage early, proactive resolutions of complaints. This work could commence with a review of the Motor Car Traders Act (1986).
Step three: Make sure fewer faulty cars are sold.

The Federal Government, in partnership with state and territory governments, needs to amend the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) to ensure that companies that fail to comply with the consumer guarantees face penalties. This will encourage dealers to sell better quality cars, and allow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) to take meaningful action against dealers that repeatedly fail to comply with consumer guarantees.

Where to from here?

Our research highlights a pressing concern: the existing consumer protection measures for used car sales don’t measure up. While consumers face heavy burdens, the industry faces minimal accountability in ensuring car safety or addressing issues post-sale. There’s a pressing need for more accessible avenues for people to exercise their rights.

The area in greatest need of further research and investment is the development of culturally appropriate solutions with and for First Nations people, who face some of the harshest practices from used car dealers. Victoria’s First Nations communities should be empowered to design and develop culturally appropriate solutions to enable them to make informed decisions about their car purchases and, if something goes wrong, to resolve any disputes effectively and efficiently.

CPRC is eager to collaborate with government officials, regulators, policy experts, academic scholars, and community leaders to address this gap.

If you are in one the above groups and would like a one-on-one briefing for your organisation contact our team today.

CPRC thanks staff at Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC), WEstjustice and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Services (VALS) for their time, expertise and advice. We thank the clients of VALS and CALC for sharing their experiences in this report.

The post Detours and Roadblocks first appeared on CPRC.

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Brand refresh

liliana — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 04:59:57 +0000

Brand Refresh

At CPRC, we are committed to understanding emerging and new issues. To help keep our organisation up-to-date, we’re thrilled to announce that we are embarking on a brand refresh!

Over the next few weeks, you may notice that our name remains the same but there are some subtle changes as we tweak our logo and introduce a rejuvenated brand image.

Refreshed logo:

But rest assured, while our look may be getting a makeover, our essential core values, mission, and the quality of our work remains unwavering.

This refinement in our brand brings a more modern aesthetic as well as being more functional for digital uses. Alongside our branding refresh, we’re also gaining a brand new website! Designed with user experience at its core, our new site aims to offer smoother navigation, richer content, and an overall enhanced digital experience. Our new website will be rolled out by early 2024.

Stay tuned. We’re confident you’ll love the refreshed look. Your feedback has always been invaluable to us, and as we transition, we welcome your thoughts and insights.

Erin Turner

CEO

Erin Turner is a consumer advocate that has worked with a broad range of governments and regulators to make markets fairer for Australians.

The post Brand refresh first appeared on CPRC.

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Detours and roadblocks webinar

liliana — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 01:25:08 +0000

Date: 27 November 2023
Time: 1-2PM AEDT
Location: Online

Faulty cars are far too common and disrupt far too many lives.

A faulty car is far more than just a daily inconvenience, they can disrupt lives and pose serious challenges for people nationwide when trying to resolve the problem. CPRC’s research delves into the experience of the process of resolving a faulty car issue. Get an in-depth understanding of the car fault landscape in Australia and engage with experts and consumer groups alike to pinpoint widespread issues.

Join us to hear more about our findings and understand the broader Australian experience.

Expert Panel

Jillian Williams

Jillian Williams is the Operations Manager at the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN). Jillian and her team work with people from Townsville to the Torres Strait and specialise in financial counselling, consumer advocacy, financial capability and financial literacy training. Previously Jill was the Director of Legal Practice at the Consumer Action Law Centre and has a strong history working on consumer advocacy issues.

Jo Ucukalo

As founder and CEO of Handle My Complaint, she has worked with Australia’s leading brands to deliver business improvements through people and technology. Her diverse background coupled with her work in consumer affairs as an advocate on behalf of consumers has provided insights into industry drivers. Jo is an accomplished presenter and panellist and has built a reputation as an industry expert and social commentator.

Trish Blake

Trish Blake is the WA Commissioner for Consumer Protection and Executive Director for Consumer Protection. Previously, Trish has been the Director of Retail and Services within Consumer Protection and worked in the Legislation and Policy Directorate of Consumer Protection for more than 13 years. Trish is a great advocate for residential tenancies, scam prevention, human rights and product safety.

Webinar Overview

Join us for:

– A comprehensive overview of CPRC’s research findings in Victoria.
– A panel discussion on the diverse experiences of consumers from different parts of Australia.
– An interactive Q&A session where attendees can share problems related to faulty cars in their respective states.

If you’ve faced challenges with a faulty car, or if you’re passionate about advocating for consumers’ rights, this webinar is for you.

Registered participants will also gain access to the recording after the webinar

Facilitator

Erin Turner

CEO

Erin leads CPRC, and is a consumer advocate that has worked with a broad range of governments and regulators to make markets fairer for Australians.

The post Detours and roadblocks webinar first appeared on CPRC.

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Make unfair illegal

liliana — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 01:58:09 +0000

Join us for a
CPRC Spark webinar

Make Unfair Illegal: An Unfair Trading Prohibition discussion

Date 10 October 2023
Time: 4PM AEDT
Location: Online webinar

Suggested citation: CPRC, Make Unfair Illegal – webinar, October 2023, https://cprc.org.au/event/make-unfair-illegal-webinar

Make Unfair Illegal

Australia may finally be on its way to an unfair trading prohibition. But what is being proposed? Will it work? How does it compare to other jurisdictions who have had the protection in place for decades?

Join us for a deep dive into the Federal Government’s proposals to address unfair business practices.

Expert Panel

Jeannie Paterson

Jeannie is a Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne, teaching and researching in the areas of consumer protection and consumer banking law. Jeannie is co-director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics and an affiliate researcher with the Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society.

Gerard Brody

Gerard is a consumer advocate, having worked as a lawyer, policy officer, and advocate for 20 years. He is the Chair of Consumers’ Federation of Australia , the peak body for consumer organisations in Australia. He was formally the CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, a leading consumer advocacy organisation that provides legal assistance and financial counselling, for ten years until February 2023. Gerard is a board director of both the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Katharine Kemp

Katharine Kemp is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney, and Deputy Director of the Allens Hub for Technology Law and Innovation. Katharine’s research focuses on competition, consumer protection and data privacy regulation. She has published widely in these fields and is frequently sought out to consult with industry, regulators and policymakers.

Webinar Overview

Join us for this Spark Series webinar. Hosted by CPRC’s Deputy CEO, Chandni Gupta, hear from prominent experts as they share their thinking on the proposals and options put forward by the Federal Government. The expert panel will explore:

– how well unfair practices are defined and captured in the proposals
– preferred and practical options
– what could work well in an Australian context
– what’s missing in the current proposals, and
– what should we be thinking about as the debate sparks on making unfair illegal.

Registered participants will also gain access to the recording after the webinar.

Facilitator

Chandni Gupta

Deputy CEO and Digital Policy Director

Chandni has over 15 years of experience in consumer policy domestically and internationally. She leads CPRC’s research and policy program, while also leading CPRC’s digital research stream on protecting consumers in a digital world. Her work to date includes exploring the consumer shift from the analogue towards the digital economy, the impact of deceptive and manipulative online design on Australian consumers and the key gaps that currently exist in Australia’s consumer protections. Chandni is also a Board Member of the Consumers’ Federations of Australia.

Chandni can be reached at: chandni.gupta@cprc.org.au.

Spark Series

This webinar is part of the CPRC Spark Series – a set of webinars designed to start conversations about consumer policy.

The post Make unfair illegal first appeared on CPRC.

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Submission to the ACCC on draft guidance for businesses on green claims

liliana — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 08:51:17 +0000

Consumers deserve and are entitled to accurate, truthful information on products and services advertised as being sustainable or environmentally beneficial. Businesses who make deceptive, untruthful and unsubstantiated green claims must be held accountable under the Australian Consumer Law. While CPRC is broadly supportive of the ACCC’s draft guidance for businesses on green claims, we note that this is only one of many measures that must be implemented to effectively stamp out greenwashing.

The post Submission to the ACCC on draft guidance for businesses on green claims first appeared on CPRC.

The post Submission to the ACCC on draft guidance for businesses on green claims appeared first on CPRC.

Recap: The sky didn’t fall in

liliana — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 06:45:07 +0000

Lauren Levin recently presented a CPRC and CFA webinar: The sky didn’t fall in – Learning from a Churchill Fellowship studying gambling regulation (harm prevention) in Norway, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom | 2022

Lauren Levin’s eye-opening presentation on gambling harm prevention demonstrates just how much Australian regulators and politicians can learn from their European counterparts.

While a lot of focus has traditionally been on “problem gamblers”, data from the UK and Australia show that even people who gamble low and moderate amounts experience harm. The type of harm experienced consists of financial pressure and distress, as well as reduced engagement in self-care and social activities, and poorer general wellbeing and physical health.

Lauren explained that European gambling regulators are making positive changes to prevent gambling harm, while little is happening in Australia. This is despite similarities in the amounts of gambling tax taken by respective governments. While there was initial trepidation in Europe to introduce gambling restrictions and an approach focused on consumer protection and public health, the presumed negative consequences did not transpire. Indeed, the ‘sky did not fall in’, and there is an attitude and conviction in Europe that addressing gambling harm requires immediate action.

Reforms – a change for good

Gambling regulation in France is defined as regulating a “harmful service”, not just a regular consumer service, as tends to be the case in Australia.
Norway’s top objective is to prevent gambling harm, as they consider profit to be secondary.
Controlling of inducements (bonuses) in countries such as Belgium and Sweden mean there are no VIP programs, which comprise a significant part of online gambler profits.
Countries including the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, France, UK & Ireland empower gambling regulators with anti-money laundering investigative powers.
Germany's parliament has mandated that the maximum anyone can spend on recreational gambling is $1500 per month across all operators and all forms of gambling. This measure will likely be rolled out across many more jurisdictions in time.
Banks in the UK are obliged to have much more of a responsibility in proactively identifying risk to person’s spending towards gambling than is the case in Australia.

Clearly, much more work is needed to address gambling harm prevention in the Australian context.

Current regulation across Australia is fragmented and disparate, with different gambling legislation administered and enforced at the jurisdictional level.

As Lauren expertly identifies, establishing a national gambling regulation body in Australia, would be one very welcome next step towards finding a solution.

Author:

Sarah Panckridge

Senior Research and Policy Advisor

Sarah has a wealth of social research expertise from both the justice and union domains, with a specialisation in qualitative research, policy evaluation, and advocacy.

Find out more about this past webinar on the event page.
To find out more about future webinars sign up to the CPRC newsletter.

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The sky didn’t fall in

liliana — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 06:10:53 +0000

Date: Thu 7 September 2023
Time: 12.00 -1.15 PM AEST
Location: Online webinar

The sky didn’t fall in

Learning from a Churchill Fellowship studying gambling regulation (harm prevention) in Norway, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom | 2022

What regulatory initiatives have worked best in the gambling harm prevention space in Europe?

Join CPRC and the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) for a briefing by Lauren Levin on the European and the UK approach to gambling harm prevention.

Presenter

Lauren Levin is the Director of Policy and Campaigns at Financial Counselling Australia (FCA). She has worked for FCA since 2012 and has an interest in building Australia’s consumer protection structures in gambling so that fewer people are harmed.

Webinar overview

As part of her Churchill Fellowship Award, Lauren Levin travelled to Europe and UK to gain insight about regulation relating to gambling harm prevention.

Lauren spent eight weeks across eight countries, meeting with gambling regulators, banks, Financial Ombudsman Services, academics, others in the gambling harm prevention ecosystem and attended an international gambling industry convention to gain insight into what the gambling industry is doing and anticipating.

In this special webinar, Lauren will share findings from her research where she asked:

As an interactive webinar, the presentation will be followed by a Q&A.

Facilitator

Chandni Gupta

Deputy CEO and Digital Policy Director

CFA

This is a joint event with CPRC and CFA .

Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) is the peak body for consumer organisations in Australia and it advocates in the interests of Australian consumers. CFA promotes and supports members’ campaigns and events, nominates and supports consumer representatives to industry and government processes, develops policy on important consumer issues and facilitates consumer participation in the development of Australian and international standards for goods and services. CFA is also a full member of Consumers International, the international peak body for the world’s consumer organisations. Visit the CFA website for more information about each of these activities, as well as important consumer news.

Keep the conversation going! Follow us on Twitter and Linkedin and sign up to the CPRC newsletter!

The post The sky didn’t fall in first appeared on CPRC.

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Submission to ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry – Data Brokers

liliana — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 08:43:15 +0000

Data brokers are mining and refining our data and then sharing and selling it to the highest bidder. There is little to no transparency in how data brokers collect, share and use personal information and it presents three key risks for Australian consumers:

It’s unlikely that consumers even know that their data is being collected by a data broker.
It is highly unlikely that consumers have given explicit consent for that collection.
There is no clear way to opt-out of having your data collected in the first place.

As for many data-based related practices, the issue cannot be resolved in a piecemeal approach. The Federal Government must prioritise the following economy-wide reforms to deliver a holistic consumer protection framework that effectively holds data-enabled businesses accountable:

Introduce an unfair trading prohibition to protect consumers from businesses that unfairly exploit their customers.
Reform the Privacy Act to bring Australia’s protection framework into the digital age.
Implement a best-interests duty or duty of care obligations for data.

At a minimum, the Federal Government should consider labelling requirements for products and services where data captured or used involves data brokers. In addition, the ACCC should consider using its information gathering powers to identify the prevalence and process of consumers requesting information or redress from data brokers.

The post Submission to ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry – Data Brokers first appeared on CPRC.

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Submission to DISR – Safe and responsible AI

liliana — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 05:01:11 +0000

As AI and new technologies quickly evolve, the Federal Government should focus on creating a legal and regulatory framework that ensures that when businesses use new technologies, including AI, that
consumers are kept informed, treated fairly and not subject to unsafe practices.

The Federal Government must fast-track reforms for consumers in the digital economy to ensure Australians are protected from current and future harms. Failure to strengthen consumer protections will mean businesses will be able to implement AI tools that make predictions that leave people worse-off, aggregate data that leads to exclusion or expose people’s vulnerabilities for commercial gain.

CPRC’s submission to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources urges the Federal Government to prioritise the following economy-wide reforms:

- Introduce an unfair trading prohibition to protect consumers from businesses that unfairly exploit their customers.
- Reform the Privacy Act to bring Australia’s protection framework into the digital age.
  Introduce a general safety provision to clearly make companies responsible for delivering safe, secure data-driven products and services.
- Increase enforcement resources for regulators to proactively operate within a complex digital environment.
- Provide clear pathways for consumers to access support when experiencing digital harms.

In addition to these reforms, CPRC recommends that the Federal Government at a minimum:

require businesses to clearly label when AI is being used and how it has been established
invest in and enable AI and ADM innovation in the not-for-profit sector to improve community outcomes
implement regulator sandboxes to enable safe testing and learning environment prior to deployment.

The post Submission to DISR – Safe and responsible AI first appeared on CPRC.

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Banning telemarketing under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program

liliana — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 10:49:55 +0000

No one should be subject to unwanted high-pressure sales tactics in their own home. Telemarketing and door knocking should be banned for Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) providers.

The VEU program is a targeted and effective program that both reduces Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions and directly assists consumers. Banning VEU providers from using high-risk unsolicited marketing techniques will greatly improve the program for consumers

The post Banning telemarketing under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program first appeared on CPRC.

The post Banning telemarketing under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program appeared first on CPRC.

CPRC

Detours and Roadblocks

Key findings

61%

46 %

26 %

28 %

What can we do to improve this?

Step one: Make the process of complaining about a car accessible, fair, and effective.

Step two: Help people get their vehicle fault resolved sooner.

Step three: Make sure fewer faulty cars are sold.

Where to from here?

Brand refresh

Brand Refresh

Refreshed logo:

Erin Turner

Detours and roadblocks webinar

Expert Panel

Jillian Williams

Jo Ucukalo

Trish Blake

Webinar Overview

Facilitator

Erin Turner

Make unfair illegal

Join us for a CPRC Spark webinar

Make Unfair Illegal: An Unfair Trading Prohibition discussion

Make Unfair Illegal

Expert Panel

Jeannie Paterson

Gerard Brody

Katharine Kemp

Webinar Overview

Facilitator

Chandni Gupta

Spark Series

Submission to the ACCC on draft guidance for businesses on green claims

Recap: The sky didn’t fall in

Author:

Sarah Panckridge

The sky didn’t fall in

The sky didn’t fall in

Presenter

Webinar overview

Facilitator

Chandni Gupta

CFA

Submission to ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry – Data Brokers

Submission to DISR – Safe and responsible AI

Banning telemarketing under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program

Join us for a
CPRC Spark webinar