It’s Not Us, It’s…

06 Oct It’s Not Us, It’s…

While there is nothing new about buck passing and blame shifting, this may just be me, but does it seem to have caught on like some kind of ‘pandemic’ recently!

Since the banking royal commission, the tendency for organisations to claim that something is not within their power to change seems to have increased.

The result is individuals and situations falling between the cracks. Unfortunately, regulation has not caught up in many instances.

Let me explain with some examples of people falling between these cracks.

Insurance – the person changed insurance companies, but maintained the same level of insurance cover. Both insurers tried to say they couldn’t cover the claim, unless the person could prove the exact date that the event happened. Both insurers stated that the claim was definitely covered.

Mum and Dad Landlords with Corporate Residential Tenants – the Tribunal has a tendency to sympathise with the tenant in residential tenancies. This makes sense in circumstances where the landlord has more power than the tenant.

However, in the case of government agencies or other large organisations, the balance of power sits with that tenant. Usually, these organisations rent on behalf of tenants who may not be able to rent on their own accord. Some of these large organisation tenants have a reputation for leaving landlords with large bills to repair the premises.

The Small Business Ombudsmen have no jurisdiction, as mum and dad landlords are generally not small businesses.

Finance Providers– the person wanted to move their funds from one financial institution to another. Both institutions claimed this was possible, but the other institution was not permitting it.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority explains that it can accept complaints against one institution, but it has no jurisdiction over this matter.

Government Agencies – a small business owner lost their business due to government actions. All government departments involved agree the business owner was badly done by. However, each agency states that the” relevant action” (there were many actions) was performed by another agency.

These situations mean that the individual/small business is firmly stuck trying to arbitrate between large bureaucracies.

It leaves me asking how long it will be before government catches up soon and helps these difficult situations by expanding the powers of the relevant ombudsmen.

In these types of situations, government will only respond when it receives enough complaints from voting members of the public. The best way to inspire action is to speak to your local member of parliament.

Until then, the only advice I can offer is be persistent. In nearly all of the above situations, we eventually obtained a reasonable outcome. In the final situation, we are still working on the outcome.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, November 2020 https://www.hunterlocal.com.au/. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash