A new survey from consumer advocate CHOICE has found a majority (54%) of Australians are confident in using the Australian Consumer Law but CHOICE says this is no cause for complacency.
Survey data (embeddable) here: https://infogram.com/consumer-
The news comes as the non-profit consumer advocate celebrates 60 years, inviting members of the public on special laboratory tours and releases the CHOICE Consumer Rights Guide on World Consumer Rights Day.
“When a group of volunteers came together to form CHOICE 60 years ago, there was no Australian Consumer Law. It was very much a case of buyer beware – if something went wrong, it fell to you to fight it out with a business.”
“Today, thanks to campaigning by groups like CHOICE, the community has more rights and it’s great to see that a majority of Australians feel comfortable using them,” says Alan Kirkland, CEO of CHOICE.
“It’s great to see in the survey results that Australians are even more confident on specifics – asking for refunds, managing their energy and water usage and negotiating prices.”
“That doesn’t mean our job is done. With 46% of the population not feeling confident asserting their rights, we’ve still got plenty of work to do. Not only do we need to help people understand the law; we continue to fight for better protection in markets like banking, health insurance and baby products. The fact that we’re still fighting the finance industry over the important recommendations of the banking royal commission demonstrates why it’s so important to have an independent consumer advocate like CHOICE.”
CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland and Consumer Advocate Jonathan Brown will be available for interviews. Contact the CHOICE media team to arrange filming and photographic opportunities at our Marrickville labs.
To help people who feel less confident in their consumer rights, CHOICE has released the 2020 CHOICE Consumer Rights Guide. The guide gives Australians 5 practical things they can do right now to take charge of their consumer rights.
CHOICE Consumer Advocate and guide author Jonathan Brown says the guide is about making consumer rights accessible to all Australians.
“One of the things we love about working at CHOICE is sharing what we learn with our family and friends,” says Brown.
“As a CHOICE staff member, it’s not uncommon you become the consumer rights oracle for the people you love. The 2020 CHOICE Consumer Rights Guide is about sharing that feeling with all Australians, taking the consumer law and helping you apply it in real life. It comes from the advice we give our loved ones on how to best use their consumer rights.”
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