ACCAN Informed Consent Project (21 August 2009)

5.8. Summary table

The scope of this current research project was limited by time and resource constraints. A short survey was distributed to organisations who receive consumer complaints. Responses were received from key organisations including the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. In addition, a diverse range of community advocacy organisations, legal services and casework agencies responded to the survey.

Not all organisations could break-down their complaints data into consumer sub-categories. For those that were able to, the following table summarises the prevalence of complaints received from the different target groups:

No complaints

Occasional (Low volume)

Regular (Moderate volume)

Numerous (High volume)

Intellectual disabilities

Hearing impairment

Visual impairment

Communication impairment

Indigenous consumers

Young people

Culturally & linguistically diverse consumers

Overall, caseworkers reported a shared concern that capacity issues are not the subject of concerted effort by industry – despite continuous complaints there has been no systemic response. This is possibly because it is easier to deal sympathetically and quickly with a few complaints rather than address larger issues such as infrastructure, staff training and awareness and product suitability.

There is also a strong concern that consumers in these specific categories are under-represented in complaints statistics, due to limits in data collection and a reluctance to complain because of the stigma associated with being a victim. Many of these consumers also face significant barriers to accessing complaints services.

Many organisations in the Project Survey were unable to provide data on specific consumer categories (or were unable to report within the tight project deadline). There may be a need for further research to consider these categories in more detail – this will require sufficient time and resources for analysis of data from key organisations.





	home about us services projects research contact
	» home » research » assets » accan informed consent 2009