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The communications regulator has released a Directions Paper explaining how numbers could be used in the future. Little consideration has been given to how consumers will be affected, ignoring the important role numbering policy has to play in achieving availability, accessible and affordable services that enhances the welfare of all Australians.

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On 18 November 2011, the Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

ACCAN's submission focuses on the need to include access to interpreting services for people with disability and people who are Deaf, and also encourages the Australian Government to make information accessible to Deaf people by providing online Auslan translations. 

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), Blind Citizens Australia, Media Access Australia and Vision Australia welcome the announcement by Senator Stephen Conroy of an audio description trial to commence on ABC1 television in the second half of 2012, which will provide a voice description of the visual broadcast for people who are blind or vision impaired. 

Audio description provides a narrative soundtrack that runs alongside audio and describes actions and non-verbal cues that are occurring on screen so that people who are blind and vision-impaired can fully enjoy programs on television.

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The 2012 Round of the ACCAN Grants Scheme opens today with $250,000 in funding available for consumer-focused telecommunications research and consumer education or advocacy tools.

Now in its third year, the ACCAN Grants Scheme funds projects that help to work towards the organisation’s vision of affordable communications services for all Australians.

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If you have a problem with a mobile phone handset or other piece of telecommunications equipment don’t ignore it.

Under Australia’s new consumer laws, if you buy a product and it is faulty you have the right to take it back to where you bought it and ask the business to fix the problem. The same applies if you engage a service and it is not provided to an appropriate standard.

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Peak consumer group ACCAN says it cannot support the revised Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code that was submitted to the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) for registration.

“The telecommunications industry has been told by the regulator that it [the Code] needs to change substantially to curb the level of customer complaints about telcos or face direct regulation,” ACCAN Chief Executive Officer Teresa Corbin said today.

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ACCAN has today released new Grants Guidelines ahead of the opening of the 2012 Round of the ACCAN Grants Scheme on Monday 20th February.

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ACCAN is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to its Standing Advisory Committees, Ms Karin Ness and Ms Catherine Clark. ACCAN has two Standing Advisory Committees: the Standing Advisory Committee on Consumer Affairs (SACCA), and Standing Advisory Committee on Disability Issues (SACDI). The Committees' members provide guidance and expertise on current and emerging communications issues affecting consumers.

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This submission is ACCAN's response to the Attorney-General's Department's draft Inclusive Communication Guidelines for Emergency Managers, designed to improve access to information and communication for people with disability during times of emergency.

ACCAN is pleased that the Attorney-General’s Department, among other organisations, is working on ways to ensure access to communications and information for people with disability during times of emergency. Our submission notes a number of ways that emergency managers can ensure equitable access.

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Payphones are an important public resource and it is vital that the community can rely on clear and fair guidelines for removal or location decisions. The guidelines proposed by the ACMA do not capture all community concerns and are unfairly weighted to commercial considerations. 

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This submission is ACCAN's response to a review of the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) conducted by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

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Peak consumer body ACCAN says current and ex Vodafone customers will be left shaking their heads today when they discover that, 12 months on, the telecommunications regulator has let the provider off virtually scot-free for the widespread network, complaint-handling problems that plagued Vodafone customers last summer.

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