TSA limited, the creators of the Keep Me Posted and Two Sides campaigns, held an open forum in Canberra on Friday hosted by Labor MP Andrew Leigh, Shadow Assistant Treasurer.
Keep Me Posted is a consumer campaign advocating Australian’s right to choose how they receive important financial information, without paying what it says are exorbitant fees for paper correspondence.
Leigh says, “The practice of charging a fee for paper bills is excluding many in Canberra’s community that don’t use, or don’t have access to the Internet in their homes.
“We know that these fees are disproportionately hitting those who can least afford it and are particularly unfair on our elderly community members and vulnerable Australians to be charged with extra fees that can easily stretch to hundreds of dollars a year.
“ACT residents should be entitled to choose printed communications without risking a penalty from their corporate service providers.”
When services providers are required by law to provide written documents, it is not specified that they have to be on paper or that they have to be provided for free.
Australian Printer asked Andrew Leigh if the Labor party planned on introducing legislation preventing corporate entities from charging high fees for paper correspondence, to which he responded:
"Digital exclusion is still a significant problem in Australia. Over a million Australian households do not have internet access at home and more often these people are disadvantaged, elderly, or from low income families. It is absolutely wrong that people who struggle to access online services have to pay a penalty.
"It is up to the government to be a leader on this issue. The government itself is putting a lot of pressure on people to get rid of paper statements at the same time as its agencies are warning about email scams – it is not a particularly consistent message."
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