Mr Waters says public awareness of the changes also remains limited.
“We’re very disappointed, firstly, that the Government, when it made these changes, didn’t fund the public education campaign,” he said.
“I think a lot of people are going to be very surprised and very upset when they find out that that’s the case.”
Mr Grafton from Veda agrees that many people are likely to be unaware of the changes.

“I have to say I think that there’s a mixed level of awareness,” he said.

AUDIO:Finance industry to begin using new power to monitor consumer credit history (PM)

“I know there’s been a fair amount of press and media coverage of this issue, but I suspect there is a case to be made for more consumer education.”

A website explaining the credit changes has been set up by the credit reporting industry.

Australia’s Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, says the changes have been publicised on his commission’s website.

“The office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website does have quite a large number of hits on it, it is extraordinarily well used, so we’re making sure we use that to the greatest extent possible,” he said.
“Like all government organisations we’re given a budget to undertake all our functions and we’ve been using that to the greatest extent possible.”

When asked whether his office needed more resources to advertise the changes, Mr Pilgrim refused to be drawn.

“I think all government agencies can put up good cases for additional funding in many areas,” he replied.

“Our requirement is to make sure that we use the funding we’ve got to the best extent possible, and I believe that we’re doing that.”