CONSUMING MATTERS

December 2003

PRODUCED BY

THE CONSUMER AND TENANT RESOURCE CENTRE OUTER EAST

FUNDED BY THE CONSUMER AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS VICTORIA

IS THIS THE LAST CONSUMING MATTERS

Approximately 20 years ago the then Labor Government recognised the need to provide a local service to the most vulnerable in our communities and established a Community Program throughout Victoria. In 1987 the Consumer and Tenant Resource Centre was funded to provide such a service to the community of the Outer East.

It is with great regret that we must announce that the current Labor Government is contemplating defunding local based community programs in the belief that a centralised model will better meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities.

On the 13th November, Minister Lenders and Johan Scheffer, Member for Monash, presented to all Consumer and Tenant Support Workers across Victoria, 4 proposed models for the future delivery of consumer and tenancy support services. The preferred model was to centralise all consumer and tenancy services to the Melbourne office of Consumer Affairs. With no local community-based service, everyone, including our most vulnerable consumers and tenants will be forced to deal with a Government Department to resolve their complaints. Local knowledge and networks that have taken years to develop will be lost and referrals to other local support services will diminish. This may result in fewer rent arrears repayment plans negotiated, an increased number of tenancy evictions, more VCAT hearings and fewer negotiated settlements. Your local watchdog of Landlords and Traders who flout the system will be gone. This may result in fewer landlords seeing the need to use an Estate Agent to manage their properties as disadvantaged tenants will find it very difficult to access Consumer Affairs Melbourne for the same sort of support they currently receive from the Consumer and Tenant Resource Centre. Traders may also find that their attendances at VCAT will increase as there will no longer be a local service that is prepared to put the same effort into negotiating a settlement to avoid a VCAT hearing.

The Consumer and Tenant Resource Centre has been providing free information, advice, conciliation, advocacy, tribunal support and community education to consumers and tenants in the Outer East for 16 years. If our service is closed there will no longer be an opportunity to provide talks to local community groups that empower people with knowledge, which ultimately results in dispute avoidance. (continued top right ...>)

JUGGLE BILLS

Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way
Oh what fun it is to buy and spend your cares away
Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way
Oh what fun it is to buy and give on Christmas day

Dashing through the shops,
credit cards can pay,
Interest free we go,
laughing all the way,
Cash registers ring,
making spirits bright,
Looking forward to the cheer
that comes on Christmas night

Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way
Oh what fun it was to buy and spend your cares away
Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way
Oh what fun it was to buy without the bills to pay

Rushing to the bank,
now there’s bills to pay
Credit card is full,
no money for today
Should have paid with cash,
watching what we spent
Oh what a pain it is to find
that we can’t pay the rent

Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way
Oh what fun it was to buy and give it all away
Juggle bills, juggle bills, juggle all the way
Oh what fun it was to buy but now you have to pay

120 DAY NOTICE TO VACATE

On the 1st July 2003 changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 came into effect, which means that some of the legal rights of tenants and landlords are now different. The period for a no specified reason Notice to Vacate has increased from 90 to 120 days when there is no fixed term lease or there is only 120 days or less remaining of the fixed term.
If the 120 day Notice to Vacate is given in retaliation for a tenant exercising their rights under the Residential Tenancies Act (e.g.asking for repairs), the tenant can challenge the notice within 60 days of receipt. This can be done by applying to the Residential Tenancies List of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for an order to set aside the Notice to Vacate.

CONT ...

Our weekly radio program on Eastern FM, press releases and our quarterly “Consuming Matters” will cease with no replacement offered by Consumer Affairs. All community education will be done on a statewide basis, which will not address the demographic differences of each region as is currently done by each funded agency. It will be the ‘one size fits all’ model.

Over the years our very small agency has had the freedom to be innovative without the bureaucratic red tape and produced “The Wheel World” which has been used in schools to educate young people about buying a car. We have produced the “Buy Now…Pay Later” booklet targeting young people and their first credit purchases and currently we are presenting the “Going for Broke” play in secondary schools that educates young people about credit, debt and commitment. We have also produced questionnaires “Are you Ready to Be a Tenant?” “Are you Ready to Buy a Car?”, all of which Consumer Affairs now wishes to use in their statewide schools education campaign. All of this innovative community education that is done on a shoestring budget will be lost.

We provide an easily accessible, friendly, non-bureaucratic service to the Outer East and we are passionate about meeting the needs of our vulnerable consumers and tenants in our community. If you too value the service that we provide to our community we have attached a petition seeking support of our service. We ask that you distribute this for signatures and return to our office (address below) at your earliest possible convenience. The time frame we have been given by Minister Lenders to “push back” as he says, is very short (13/12/03). If you would prefer, or in addition to the petition, to write a letter of support for our agency addressed to Minister Lenders, please also forward that letter to our agency so we can present all supportive documentation to the Minister at the same time.

If this is to be our last “Consuming Matters”, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our community of the Outer East for their support over the years and hope that our paths will cross again in the future.

DENISE BUDGE, VIVIEN ROGERS,
KERAN CHALLENGER & JEANETTE STANLEY.
Consumer and Tenant Resource Centre,
P.O. Box 125, Boronia, 3155. 9761 0288

CHRISTMAS STOCKING FILLERS

Christmas has arrived in the shops and with all the tinsel and decorations are large numbers of cheap toys, which may or may not be perfect for stocking fillers. Throughout 2003 many toys have been recalled or banned by consumer protection agencies because they were dangerous. Consumer Affairs Victoria has banned nineteen brands of toy guns for containing projectiles small enough to choke a child or to cause serious eye injury. A
number of types of yo-yo balls have also been banned because they posed a strangulation hazard to children.
It is essential that adults buying toys check them for safety and suitability as product safety officers are not able to examine all toys prior to going on sale. Labelling toys ‘not suitable for children under the age of three’ alerts consumers to the fact that the toys are dangerous for that age group and is not an indication of skill level or intelligence.
When shopping for toys, look out for the following hazards;

• any sharp, pointy or rough parts that may cause cuts or splinters;
• inadequate ventilation in masks, tents or toy helmets, which may cause breathing difficulties;
• toys producing loud noises which may be harmful to hearing;
• holes or gaps which may trap a finger;
• any item that may project hard objects at a high velocity;
• any plastic wrapping around a toy, which may become a suffocation risk;
• a toy chest that has a lid which may close on top of the child;
• toys that are big enough for a child to crawl inside that may have insufficient ventilation;
• baby toys with loose or small parts;
• toys with long strings or ribbons which can cause strangulation.

If you see any toys you think may be dangerous or if you would like more information on safe toys contact the centre.

CHRISTMAS CLOSURE

The Consumer & Tenant Resource Centre wishes everyone a joyful Christmas and prosperous New Year and advise that we will be closed between 23rd December, 2003 and 5th January 2004.