The Minister for Financial Services & Regulation, Joe Hockey, announced today a number of new initiatives to provide better information for consumers when purchasing products or services.
Amongst the new initiatives are a number of online resources to assist consumers engaging with the new economy. The Government's one-stop-shop for consumer information, www.consumersonline.gov.au, has been updated with new information, a revised edition of a directory of consumer complaint handling bodies, a new e-commerce satellite site for business and an interactive Consumer Fraud Quiz developed in partnership with the Canadian Office of Consumer Affairs.
"The release of these information resources advances the Government's commitment to Consumer Sovereignty. The Government is committed to arming consumers with the information they need before they buy and ensuring that consumers know where to go when they experience difficulties," said the Minister.
"This site is unprecedented in the way that it collects information of interest to consumers. Not that long ago, consumers would be forced to ring around a succession of Commonwealth and State agencies to find the information they were after."
"Now consumers can click on www.consumersonline.gov.au to view a topic and referral information. With this site, we've turned things around by grouping information in a way that is relevant to the consumer rather than the bureaucracy," said the Minister.
But the Government also recognises that many Australians need to receive consumer information through offline means. To assist the many community intermediaries that deal with consumer complaints, the Government has also released hard copy versions of a revised edition of its popular directory of consumer complaint handling bodies and consumer dispute resolution schemes.
"Consumer Sovereignty is all about arming consumers with enough information to be largely self-reliant and empowering them to articulate what they want in a product or service. Better informed consumers inevitably spur businesses to provide better products and services. Australian consumers and businesses can only win from these initiatives," said the Minister.