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More than 250 delegates from financial counseling organisations, community legal centres, regulators, and alternative disputes resolution schemes will meet in Melbourne from Tuesday 8 June 2010.
The joint Australian Financial Counseling and Credit Reform Association (AFCCRA) Conference and External Dispute Resolution (EDR) Forum will be held over three days – Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9 and Thursday 10 June - at the Rydges Bell City Hotel in Preston.
AFCCRA is the peak body for financial counsellors and delegates will attend from all Australian states. The External Dispute Resolution Forum is a showcase event for industry ombudsman schemes who handle complaints about products and services including banking, finance, credit, general insurance, investments, life insurance, superannuation, telecommunications, energy and water.
Highlights of the AFCCRA conference include presentations by:
- Clare Martin, the CEO of the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), about issues affecting low-income Australians.
- Paul Harrison, lecturer at Deakin University, about manipulative marketing.
- Allan Asher, from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), about consumers' experiences of the telecommunications industry.
The conference also features the inaugural Jan Pentland Foundation dinner, which will be addressed by the Reverend Tim Costello. The Jan Pentland Foundation honours and continues the legacy of Jan Pentland, a former chair of AFCCRA and long-standing campaigner for social justice.
The EDR conference will give financial counsellors an opportunity to meet senior staff of Australia’s industry ombudsman schemes and to discuss how to get the best outcomes for their clients. The forum will include:
- addresses from each industry ombudsman;
- a keynote address from Allan Fels, Dean of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, and former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC);
- a demonstration of a conciliation conference with a focus on financial hardship.
A highlight of the EDR Forum will be a performance about managing your money and staying out of debt by Deadly Dollars, an Indigenous theatre troupe.
For more information, visit the AFCCRA website.
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