Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i CHOICE

It might seem odd to devote an edition of CHOICE to travel right now, but we are a nation of travellers and while COVID-19 has closed our international borders, many of us are still hitting the road at every opportunity. Resorts from Broome to Tasmania are booked out for months in advance, and hotels and restaurants are struggling to find enough staff. The Queensland government has even resorted to offering free airfares and cash payments to people willing to move north for tourism jobs. Until recently, this travel has been limited to Australia but the new concept of ‘travel bubbles’ has opened the doors to New Zealand. This has me reflecting on CHOICE’s relationship with our neighbours across the Tasman. If the vision of our founders had been realised, I…

The disability insurance you get through your super is a bit like a fire extinguisher: hopefully you’ll never need it, but you want to have the peace of mind that it works properly. But if you’re working casually, part-time or are out of work altogether, this insurance may not cover you, even if you’re injured or ill and can’t work again. This is because of a term in the fine print called the ‘activities of daily living’ (ADL) test that often applies to people in these categories. ASIC previously found that claims assessed under the ADL test had a decline rate five times higher than the rate for all claims through this type of insurance. One insurer had a decline rate of 79% on ADL claims. Last year, Super Consumers…

In July 2020, legislation came into effect in Australia that placed new restrictions on the use of animal-tested ingredients in cosmetics. Then, in late May this year, the cosmetics industry launched a new voluntary code to support the legislation. It outlines best practice for informing consumers about the products they buy. According to federal minister Mark Colton, whose portfolio includes the relevant Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme, the code will “make clear to industry and consumers what to look for in relation to animal welfare advertising claims”. He adds: “There is a broad range of claims included on a wide variety of cosmetic products and it can be confusing to understand if a product has indeed been tested on animals.” The RSPCA welcomed the code: “While the new laws further…

This month we hit the road to test GPS navigation devices. Were they worth getting rid of the Gregory’s or Refidex for? Costing up to $1199 ($1620 today), we thought you should only consider one if your street directory got such a workout that it justified the expense. Our tests looked at how well the units were at plotting both short and long journeys, and what the experience was like once you were on the road. Some units struggled in the Sydney CBD, with skyscrapers interfering with satellite signals. Pathfinding was sometimes a struggle: one tried to send us on a 124km scenic route for what should have been a 30km drive. We also scored them on road safety, including whether users were reminded not to rely on the GPS…

Earlier this year, we surveyed 4443 people about their travel plans that had been cancelled due to COVID-19. Fewer than one in five (17%) say they received a full refund when their travel was cancelled, and some of those people waited as long as nine months to get their refund. In another survey question, 90% of the respondents say the law should be changed in Australia to make it easier to get a refund. To put it mildly, Australian travellers aren’t happy about travel businesses holding on to their money for so long – or about not getting it back at all. ‘Unprecedented and complex’ It’s been an extraordinary time in the travel industry. Australia’s market regulator, the ACCC, has gone on record to say your right to a refund…

Things can change quickly, flights can get cancelled and communities can go into lockdown if an outbreak happens. You need to be prepared for your travel plans to be interrupted at short notice. As travel insurance won’t protect you from government border closures or general lockdowns, the key is to book with providers that allow flexibility should things change. • Check the rules for travelling to New Zealand.• Consider going to just one or a few places at a time rather than travelling around.• Read the terms and conditions before you book.• Book flexible tickets for flights. Read more about COVID-19 refunds from airlines on page 26.• Make sure your hotel booking can be cancelled or changed.• If you book through a travel agent or booking site, make sure they…

• Look for headphones with a proper travel case. Some come with carry bags, but they’re usually too soft to offer any real protection.• Before your trip, pick up some replacement parts such as silicon fittings for buds or pads for on-ear models. They don’t weigh much and you’ll be glad to have them if anything gets damaged.• Don’t just toss your headphones into a suitcase or backpack. Try to place them on top or around soft items such as clothing.• Unplug wired headphones by pulling on the connection pin rather than yanking the cable, which will eventually cause the wires to snap.• Avoid wrapping the cable around your headphones – try bundling it up and tucking it into the side of the case instead. If you do need to…

• Alarm Useful for waking up and for daytime reminders. DAB+ clock radios are more accurate than normal clock radios and automatically adjust to daylight saving. • USB Many portable DAB+ radios have a USB connection, but it’s often just an input for firmware updates. Some models can recharge the battery, and a couple can also charge aftermarket AA NiMH batteries. Some larger DAB+ radios can function as power banks to charge devices such as smartphones through the USB ports, although none of the models in the table have this feature. • Line-in (AUX) This lets you connect easily with other devices using a 3.5mm cable. It’s a good feature to have on holidays when you don’t want the hassle of pairing your speaker with another person’s smartphone. It can…

Basic hospital policies offer the lowest tier of health insurance at the lowest price point. Because they give you very little cover, we don’t recommend them from a health perspective. But if you want to reduce your burden of tax and loadings, here are the cheapest policies in each state (yearly premium for a single person without the health insurance rebate): ACT and NSW: Frank Basic (Plus), $500 excess, $1139. Cover: None in private hospitals, but it covers a range of services in public hospitals, plus emergency ambulances. Victoria, Northern Territory and South Australia: HCF Accident Only Basic, $750 excess, $1204 in Victoria, $450 in the Northern Territory and $1111 in South Australia. Cover: Emergency ambulance, and private hospital for the initial treatment after an accident if you go to…

Keeping textiles out of landfills is a tall order in Australia, which is reported to have the second-highest consumption of textiles per person in the world after the US. It’s estimated that every Australian buys an average of 27kg of new textiles a year, and sends an average of 23kg to landfill every year, too. According to the ‘2020 National Waste Report’, Australia generated 780,000 tonnes of textile waste in 2018–19. Only seven percent was recycled. At the first ever National Roundtable on Clothing Textile Waste in May, Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley commented on how the issue affects charities. “Clothing charities can be a great place to thrift shop, but they are not the place to send our tatty, pre-loved clothes that are barely hanging by a thread,…

For more than 60 years, CHOICE has advocated for your consumer rights. In recent times, one of those advocates has been Amy Pereira, who works on a range of issues including making markets safer and shaping the Australian Consumer Law so that it’s effective and fit for purpose. Amy joined CHOICE to help consumers navigate some of the biggest challenges of the modern economy. She says, “As consumers, we rely on businesses in our everyday lives. However, we’re not always on an equal footing with them in the market and this power imbalance is harmful in both complex and enduring ways.” In recent months, Amy has worked alongside CHOICE members and other experts to secure a mandatory standard for dangerous button batteries, helping to reduce the serious risk that these…

Airbnb is a great idea: instead of renting a poorly appointed holiday house, you’re hosted in someone’s actual home. Sometimes they’re there too and you use a spare room; sometimes they graciously vacate the premises and leave you to it. It’s a ‘share economy’ concept: you share in resources that are already available. The clue that Airbnb is supposed to be different from soulless hotel rooms or generic holiday houses is the use of the word host: “a person who receives or entertains guests” (according to the Oxford Dictionary). These are real homes and so everything home-y is there: towels, linen, pantry basics, a kitchen with proper utensils (as opposed to the blunt knives and warped frypans you’ll find in a rented holiday home). In the early days of Airbnb,…

Community choice.community @ijarratt: Should the amount of product in a package have to be displayed on the front of the package? @matsp003: Weight and unit pricing. If a company shrinks product (and still sells original sizing) making it look the same I am more than likely not going to be purchasing their products if it can be helped. @meganchild: I think the packaging should be similar size to the contents, not a box of air plus the product. @noely55: I also want them to address the dodgy E weights that have crept into, mainly, meat packaging. It is either a specific weight or it’s not. Some of the E weights have been well below the mark, e.g. E of 500g, actual 275g! Twitter twitter.com/choiceaustralia @choiceaustralia: Have you ever bought any…

Australian airlines have all but shut down international passenger flights while the COVID-19 pandemic plays out. Rebookings and credit vouchers are being offered for cancelled flights or for people who just want to rebook. But can you get a cash refund if you want one? Did you book online or with a travel agent? If you booked through a travel agent or online booking site, you may need to process bookings or refunds through them – they should be able to tell you how to do this. If you’re not flying in the next few days, it’s better to wait and contact your airline closer to the departure date, or wait for them to contact you. Can you get your money back from your airline? Whether or not you can…

1 Rest up in the first few days when you're most affected and most contagious. 2 Drink plenty of fluids to loosen congestion and prevent dehydration. Avoid dehydrating caffeine drinks and alcohol. 3 Flushing your nose with saline nose drops twice a day can ease nasal congestion and help prevent bacterial infection. 4 Relieve swelling in the throat by gargling with salt water (half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm water). 5 Ease a dry, sore throat and reduce tickling that causes dry coughing with sugar-free throat lozenges. 6 Suppress a dry cough with one or two teaspoons of honey – a useful remedy for children over the age of one. 7 Some studies have found vitamin C, zinc and echinacea may help reduce the severity and duration of colds, as well as the…

Many portable speakers are small and light enough to take on a trip, with solid sound quality to boot. With smartphones offering access to a world of music and a direct connection to a Bluetooth speaker, there’s no reason for you not to sing and dance your way through your next outing to the beach, park or family gathering. But with so many speakers to choose from, which one is best for your situation? Sound quality is obviously an important consideration, but you also need to think about battery life, ease of connectivity, size and weight. We took a look at a range of portable Bluetooth speakers that come in under $300. Some models offer added value, doubling as speaker phones or being able to serve as impromptu battery packs…

While 2020/21 may be a time many of us would like to forget, most of us have a lifetime of precious memories on film, stored on hard drives and saved in our phones. Photo books are the perfect tool to bring together all of those images to capture a magic weekend away, document a loved one’s life or share a favourite holiday with family and friends. We show how to put one together. Getting started The first step is to decide your theme for the book. A recent holiday or past trip is an obvious choice, but you can create a long-lasting keepsake of a milestone birthday, a special person or pet, a special event… the themes are limitless. Once you’ve picked your theme, collect all your digital images, photos,…

Family road trips can be exhausting if you’re the one stuck behind the wheel for hours at a time. But you can always hand the wheel over to any L or P-platers who’ve come along for the ride. After all, those never-ending stretches of highway can add a lot of hours to the learner logbook. But although fully licensed drivers can use apps such as Google Maps or Waze to navigate while driving, L and P-platers are not permitted in most states and territories. In which case, they’ll need to use a dedicated GPS unit, even if a fully licensed driver is in the vehicle too. The laws are regularly updated and can be confusing, particularly if you’re crossing state or territory lines. This breakdown of the regulations, and whether…

Internet service providers Dodo and iPrimus have been fined $2.5 million by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for misleading claims about their NBN speeds. Both providers are part of Vocus Group, which is the fourth-largest telecommunications provider in the country. The companies both admitted inappropriate testing methodology when calculating their typical evening-speed claims, which were advertised between March 2018 and April 2019. “Accurate information about broadband speeds, particularly during the busy period when consumers are most likely to use their services, is essential for consumers to be able to compare broadband offers and pick the best service for their needs,” ACCC chair Rod Sims says. “The ACCC brought this case because we were concerned that the methodology which the Vocus Group used as the basis for its speed…

Mosaic Brands, the group behind names such as Katies, Millers, Rivers and Rockmans, has been fined $630,000 by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for making false and misleading claims about its hand sanitiser and face masks during the pandemic. The group has also been forced to contact affected customers for a refund, as well as putting information about refunds on its websites. None of this could have happened without supporters like you. When the pandemic first struck, it was CHOICE members who got in touch to let us know about Mosaic’s ‘panic marketing’ and low-quality products. Through independent testing, we discovered Mosaic’s hand sanitiser had only 23% alcohol, despite its claim of 70%. After this revelation, hundreds of you chipped in to fund independent lab testing of a…

Australians reported losing more than $850 million to scams in 2020 alone, according to an ACCC report that gathered data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, other government agencies, banks and payment platforms. Investment scams were again the largest reported type of scam – costing $328 million – followed by romance and dating scams. People aged 65 years and older were the demographic group who lost the most money to scams. The COVID-19 pandemic led to growing scam losses in several categories, with health and medical scams ballooning by more than 2000% compared with 2019 – up to $3.9 million in losses. Online shopping scams rose by 52%. “Whilst losses reported to Scamwatch increased 23% compared to the previous year, we had expected that the increase might be much higher due to the…

Arogue financial adviser, Ross Andrew Hopkins of Killara, NSW, recently copped a notably stiff sentence for 15 dishonesty offences under the Corporations Act. In a case brought by ASIC, the court sentenced Hopkins to a maximum period of six years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years. Hopkins committed the offences when he was the sole director of QWL Pty Ltd. Over a period of about three years, he misappropriated roughly $2.9 million of his clients’ self-managed superannuation funds without their knowledge. He used the money for holidays, rent, paying his own credit-card debts, and repaying personal loans. “Mr Hopkins lied to his clients, and the court’s decision demonstrates the seriousness of this conduct,” says ASIC Commissioner Danielle Press. “Financial advisers must be open and honest with their clients…

Many of the 356 timeshare members we surveyed earlier this year say they’re getting a raw deal from timeshare operators including Accor Vacation Club, Classic Holidays, Club Wyndham, Holiday Concepts and Ultiqa. Almost 30% say they’d like to leave their schemes but can’t, and another 12.5% say they’re thinking about leaving. An alarming 70% say their schemes pass on to their children, who will be burdened with the yearly fees. (Another 15% say they weren’t sure if this would happen or not.) One Classic Holidays member who’s in this bind, Colin, says, “Frankly I would give my share away to have this out of my life.” Another, Phil, says, “the levies are more expensive than the holiday itself”. Classic Holidays member Leanne, also stuck in her scheme, says “the ongoing…

After more than a year, Australia’s borders have opened for a travel bubble with New Zealand. And some travel insurers offer limited cover if your travel plans get interrupted by COVID-19. But these international travel insurance policies only cover you for travel to New Zealand while a government travel ban still prevents you from travelling anywhere else without an exemption. Do you need travel insurance for New Zealand? Travel insurance is essential for Australians travelling to New Zealand. Buy your insurance at the same time as you book your trip, that way you’ll be covered if you have to cancel for some reason before you go. MEDICAL COSTS New Zealand and Australia have a reciprocal healthcare agreement, meaning that Australian travellers can access New Zealand’s public health service in an…

Your Australian passport is one of the most valuable items you’ll ever own. Even while most of our international borders remain closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s still one of the most trusted and secure forms of ID. Not only that, as people get vaccinated and travel bubbles open, you’ll want to be travel-ready as more borders open up. As people get vaccinated and travel bubbles open, you’ll want to be travel-ready as more borders open up So, do you know where your passport is right now? And are you sure it hasn’t expired or needs to be renewed? What should you do if it’s gone astray and how do you get a new one? How do I report my passport missing? If you’re in Australia, call the Australian Passport…

Sally (not her real name) is one of more than 800,000 people working as a primary carer in Australia. She looks after her teenage daughter, who has mitochondrial disease. ‘Mito’, as it’s sometimes known, is a complex and debilitating condition that plays havoc with mitochondria, which generate energy for almost all of the cells the human body needs to function properly. Mito Foundation writes that the disease “affects not only the person with the illness but carers and family as well”. It further notes that “carers and family may even be in need of their own support, support they might have to continuously fight for”. Sally often needs to travel to Sydney to see specialists for her daughter’s condition. There are also frequent phone calls to doctors. Caring is very…

Children under the age of six should not be given medicines to treat cough and cold symptoms. For children aged six to 11, do so only on the advice of a doctor, pharmacist, or nurse practitioner. If a child has a temperature above 40°C, or an elevated temperature (but below 40°C) that lasts three days or more and doesn’t respond to medication, see a doctor. Children or teenagers should not take aspirin, as it could possibly cause a serious illness called Reye’s syndrome.…

Whether you’re on a road trip or flying across the country, headphones are an essential travel item. Without them, you’ll be stuck listening to the drone of the aeroplane, passengers eating around you, or your uncle’s tone-deaf rendition of ‘Thunderstruck’ during hour six of a 10-hour drive. Sound quality and cost are important factors, but there are other things you need to consider when shopping for a pair of travel headphones. Something suitable for the morning commute or music around the house may not work for travelling. So what are the key decisions? Wired or wireless? Wired headphones may seem almost archaic these days, but they’re still a better option for travelling. Why? In short: you don’t have to worry about battery life. A good pair of wireless in-ear headphones…

Pack a portable digital radio on your next trip and you’ll be able to listen to music and news wherever you are (almost). From mid-2021, digital radio will be available in all capital cities, but will be less consistent in regional areas. Visit digitalradioplus.com.au to check the quality of coverage for your destination. Some models also double as wireless speakers that play music from your smartphone, making these devices even more versatile. 79% JBL Tuner 2 The audio quality of this compact model impressed our listening panel with its power, clarity and well-balanced sound. If you don’t want to listen to a DAB+ station or you can’t get reception, the Bluetooth support lets you stream music or play a playlist stored on your smartphone. A line-in (AUX) connection also makes…

We buy one photo book from every service we test. We use the same range of photos – a carefully selected mix of images with different lighting and colour themes – and always order closest to the A4, standard, hardcover option. If a book is damaged on delivery, we contact the service and let them know. How they respond to a damaged product doesn’t affect the score, though we may comment on it because in cases like this customer service is an important part of the overall experience. Our results are based on the new, undamaged product received as a replacement. Image quality (60%): We compare the image quality, the paper quality, and the cover and binding quality between photo books. Ease of use (40%): We look at how easy…

You’ll want the right luggage so you don’t miss any last-minute getaway opportunities In today’s era of snap lockdowns and border closures, you’ll want the right luggage nearby to make sure you don’t miss any last-minute getaway opportunities. We test both carry-on and check-in luggage to see which ones survive our unforgiving tests. A carry-on suitcase means you can avoid delays at the baggage carousel, save on checked baggage fees, and avoid the worry of it being battered by hurried handlers or ravaged by rain. Thankfully, all the current carry-on suitcases we tested are recommended, including the cheapest ones, proving yet again that price isn’t necessarily a guarantee of quality. But check the suitcases’ weight: some are far lighter than others and won’t massively eat into your carry-on allowance. Many…

Chief Executive Office Alan Kirkland (CEO), Alana O’Sullivan, Nikki Jamett Commercial & Finance Tristan Ye (Director), Thelma Bracken, Samuel Gunawan, Jing Jin, Amy Lawrance, Chau Nguyen, Sera Raicama, Masami Tanaka, Kelly Yang, Phyo Zin Campaigns & Communications Erin Turner (Director), Eleanor Barz, Jonathan Brown, Katelyn Cameron, Alison Elliott, Justina Hanna, Daniel Herborn, Jim Hook, Andrew Kelly, Jessica Kirby, Brendan Mays, Franco Morelli, Xavier O’Halloran, Matthias Oldham, Amy Pereira, Dean Price, Oliver Ray, Julia Steward, Patrick Veyret, Jillian Zarate Data & Technology Ashwin Sridhar (Chief Data and Technology Officer), Matthew Barry, Andre Becker, Jie Chen, Graham Cox, Bohdan Dubik, Parsa Edraki, William Essa, Camilo Forero, James Green, Daniel Harrow, Andrea James, Farrukh Khan, Sal Khan, Ishan Koirala, Simon Miller, Ehsan Razavi Nejad, Wahida Nusrat, Rathan Pathuri, Deepak Kartik Coimbatore Prakash, Samir…