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Fair Go: Complaint Resolution for Digital Australia offers insights into challenges faced at a time of rapid changes to the digital environment. The Occasional Paper, written by John T.D. Wood, was commissioned by ACCAN in order to broaden and stimulate debate regarding external complaints resolution schemes.
Read more: Fair Go: Complaint Resolution for Digital Australia
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A new report about emergency services during the Queensland floods says major issues with the National Relay Service (NRS), based in Brisbane, left some people with hearing or speech impairments unable to contact emergency services.
Read more: Queensland flood highlights need to fix Triple Zero accessibility
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The tragic events in Queensland have demonstrated many of the strengths and unfortunately some of the weaknesses of Australia’s emergency services and warnings systems. This report explores one important dimension of our emergency management framework, namely access to emergency services and emergency information by people who have a disability, particularly those who are Deaf or have a speech or hearing impairment.
Read more: The Queensland flood disaster: Access for people with disability
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The Australian Consumer Fraud Taskforce will launch National Consumer Fraud Week with a warning that scammers can target you anytime, anywhere, anyhow.
Scammers do not stop at anything to target victims, including adopting a personal touch. Watch out for scammers – whether you are answering a phone call, opening mail, online chatting with friends, shopping or even looking for love.
Read more: National Consumer Fraud Week focuses on consumer protection
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About the National Relay Service59 KB
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About the National Relay Service422.3 KB
People who are Deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired are unable to access telecommunications without specialised equipment and services. Since 1995, the Australian Government has overseen a National Relay Service (NRS) which enables people with these disabilities to conduct real-time conversations with other people. The funding for the NRS is provided by a levy on eligible telecommunications carriers.
The NRS offers a number of different relay services allowing greater communication options for people who are Deaf, hearing impaired or speech impaired. These include:
Read more: About the National Relay Service
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Telco complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) have soared 9% in the last six months taking them near their 2009 record highs and marking a new low for Australian customers, peak communications consumer body ACCAN said today.
Read more: Sky high: 671 people per day call Ombudsman for help
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An ACCAN submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications.
In this submission ACCAN informs the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications that the NBN has the potential to contribute to Australia in a significant way. In order for the NBN to be most beneficial to Australians, ACCAN believes that there are a number of key enabling policies that need to be in place relating to ubiquity, computer literacy and applications for people with a disability.
Read more: Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network
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Submission by ACCAN to the Senate Committee Inquiry into the National Broadband Network Companies Bill 2010; and Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network Measures - Access Arrangements) Bill 2011.
On the whole, ACCAN supports the speedy passage of these Bills. It desirable that NBN Co operate within a strong regulatory framework such as these Bills provide, and that this framework be in place before regular services to consumers start to be delivered over the NBN beyond first and second release sites.
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Peak communications body ACCAN commends Vodafone CEO Nigel Dews for his frank and unqualified letter of apology to the company’s four million customers for a string of incidents that has seen its network – and customer service – stretched to its limits over the past four months.
Read more: Vodafone apology comes at a critical time for telco industry
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ACCAN, as a Principle Partner of the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce during National Consumer Fraud Awareness Week, would like to warmly invite you to attend the launch screening of:
“Internet Scams: how to protect yourself” a consumer education initiative by the WA Deaf Society, funded by ACCAN’s Grants Scheme.
Read more: Cinema screening: National Consumer Fraud Awareness Week
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An ACCAN Position Statement on the National Broadband Network's installation process.
ACCAN is calling on the government to make National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre-optic cable installations automatic unless individual property owners choose to opt out.
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Submission by ACCAN to the Convergence Review Secretariat regarding the Convergence Review Terms of Reference.
ACCAN argues the Convergence Review Committee should look at ways to maximise inclusion for people with disabilities in accessing the broadest range of content, services and technologies.
The 2011 Convergence Review is an Australian Government initiative. It is in response to trends in technology that are reshaping the media landscape from how it looked in the 1990s, which is when Australia's current media and communications regulatory frameworks were established.