Council supported my recommendation at the 30 August Council meeting to join consumer advocacy campaign, Keep Me Posted.
Keep Me Posted is a campaign representing advocate groups, charities, consumer groups, employer and employee representatives, industry and political representatives who believe in the right of choice for consumers as to the way that major service provider companies communicate with them.
With recent trends from corporations to charge a fee for paper based statements it is the most vulnerable people across Australia that carry the greater burden:
- In Australia if you are disabled, in a low-income household or dependent on a parenting payment, an age pension, disability support pension or a New start allowance, then the likelihood of having no Internet at home is twice to almost five times higher than the national average;
- Only 51% of Australians over 65 are internet users;
- Access to the internet falls to just 57% for households with an income less than $40,000.
The Keep Me Posted campaign was launched in April in Canberra with bipartisan support from MPs and senators and is now seeking to gather supporters from the wider community, including local councils.
Monash Council resolved to support and promote the campaign and to sign the Keep Me Posted Pledge:
- Offer all Australians the choice of receiving information through their preferred delivery option – digital or paper – without a fee penalty.
- Refrain from penalising in any way, any Australian for preferring to receive information through paper correspondence. This includes:
- No extra charge;
- No change of frequency;
- No difficulty to revert back to paper correspondence; and
- Require prior consent from citizens before ceasing to send documents in their preferred way.
Keep Me Posted’s objectives are consistent with Council’s concerns that the most vulnerable of our residents are not left behind or suffer disadvantage.
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