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Deaf Australia, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) and the Australian Federation of Deaf Societies (AFDS) today congratulated the outstanding efforts of the Queensland Government in ensuring there was an Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreter standing alongside Queensland Premier Anna Bligh during press conferences concerning the devastating floods that inundated the state this week.
Read more: Australia’s Deaf community congratulates and thanks the Queensland Government
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The Footscray Legal Community Centre (FCLC) together with ACCAN has released a report entitiled Taking Advantage of Disadvantage: Case studies of refugee and new migrant experiences in the communications market, finding that in many cases telcos are taking advantage of this already disadvantaged and highly vulnerable group.
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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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ACCAN believes the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) is constrained by its current governance structure and limited resources to truly reach its potential. The TIO needs to modernise and come into line with other industries, most notably to meet the benchmark set by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
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Welcome to our collection of the latest news and current affairs that impact communications consumers.
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During the course of our Fair Calls For All campaign some of ACCAN's members and supporters have raised concerns that services for domestic violence survivors are offered on 1800, 1300 and 13 numbers, which are prohibitively expensive to access from a mobile phone.
Read more: Inquiry into domestic violence trends and issues in NSW
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ACCAN has recommended that the ACMA work towards a system that automatically provides location information to Emergency Service Operators when consumers call from a landline, mobile or VoIP phone.
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Australia was reviewed for the first time under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in January 2011. The UPR is a peer review by all 192 United Nations Members States. Over 50 countries made statements about Australia’s human rights record and 145 recommendations were made.
Here, ACCAN outlines practical suggestions of how the Australian Government can implement UPR recommendations.
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The 2011 round of the ACCAN Grants Scheme opens today with $250,000 in funding to support consumer research, representation, or education projects related to communications in Australia. The peak communications group says eligible community organisations, research bodies and individuals looking to fund communications projects can apply for funding of up to $60,000.
Read more: ACCAN Grants Scheme opens with $250,000 for community projects
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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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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.