FCVic’s submission to the Victorian Government’s Embedded Networks Review addresses reforms to pricing and consumer protections for customers in embedded electricity and gas networks. Grounded in the direct experience of Victorian financial counsellors, the submission highlights the systemic barriers faced by embedded network customers, including higher energy costs, reduced consumer protections, and an inability to access the competitive retail energy market.

The submission makes six recommendations, including benchmarking embedded network prices to the lowest available market offer, extending full Energy Retail Code of Practice (ERCOP) protections to all embedded network operators, mandating clearer disclosure for prospective residents, banning new residential embedded networks, developing a transition strategy for existing networks, and reviewing the Utility Relief Grant Scheme (URGS) and Non-Mains Utility Relief Grant Scheme (NURGS). The submission is endorsed by Community Information & Support Victoria (CISVic).

Financial Counselling Victoria, alongside national, state, and territory peak bodies, has made a joint submission to the Fair Work Commission in response to its 1 June 2026 decision on gender‑based undervaluation in the SCHADS Award.

The submission raises serious concerns about how the decision may affect the classification, pay, and recognition of financial counsellors. While the new framework includes mechanisms that could support translation of current Level 5 roles to higher classifications, it also creates uncertainty and a real risk that financial counselling work may be undervalued as entry‑level. The submission sets out the complex, specialist nature of financial counselling, including its legal, regulatory, advocacy, and counselling dimensions, and argues that this work warrants classification above minimum levels.

It also highlights the broader consequences for the sector, including workforce attraction and retention, funding pressures, and the long-term sustainability of services at a time of rising financial hardship. The peaks call for clear, evidence-based implementation of the classification framework, alignment with existing sector practice, and funding models that properly reflect the value of financial counselling work.

This joint submission responds to the Interim Report of the Independent Review of the Customer Owned Banking Code of Practice and reflects the experience of organisations working directly with people navigating hardship, vulnerability, and barriers to fair banking. It supports the overall direction of reform, including stronger drafting, improved hardship protections, better recognition of vulnerability, dedicated protections for people affected by domestic and family violence, stronger First Nations banking measures, and greater transparency around digital banking and AI.

At the same time, the submission argues that the final report should be more ambitious. It calls for the revised Code to seek ASIC approval, retain enforceable protections within the Code itself, strengthen oversight and consequences for non-compliance, require internal customer advocates across all lenders, improve access to in-person and non-digital banking, expand low-fee and no-fee banking protections, and ensure the compliance committee has the transparency and resourcing needed to do its job effectively.

This is a strong joint effort, backed by a wide range of consumer and community organisations:

• CARE.
• CHOICE.
• Consumer Action Law Centre.
• Consumer Credit Legal Service Western Australia.
• Consumers Federation of Australia.
• COTA Australia.
• Each.
• Financial Counselling Association WA.
• Financial Counselling Australia.
• Financial Counselling Victoria.
• Financial Rights Legal Centre.
• ICAN.
• Mob Strong Debt Help.
• Mortgage Stress Victoria.
• SAFCA.
• Thriving Communities Australia.
  

Financial Counselling Victoria’s submission to the Essential Services Commission’s Water Price Review 2026 draft decisions broadly supports the proposed approaches for Melbourne Water and North East Water, particularly efforts to balance infrastructure investment with cost containment for customers. The submission emphasises the importance of maintaining and strengthening hardship supports, including contributions to the Financial Counselling Industry Fund, and calls for consistent commitments across all Victorian water corporations to ensure equitable access to financial counselling services.

Financial Counselling Victoria has provided a submission to the Essential Services Commission as part of Stage 2 of the Energy Retail Code of Practice review. Grounded in the direct experiences of Victorian financial counsellors, it highlights how early, flexible, and compassionate retailer responses improve outcomes, and how rigid, fragmented systems can escalate harm.

The submission broadly supports the Commission’s proposed reforms and identifies priority areas where stronger protections are most needed. These include an overarching consumer duty requiring retailers to act fairly and in consumers’ interests, proactive hardship identification obligations, and strengthened family violence protections that reduce retraumatisation and address safety risks in contact, account security, and debt pathways.

It also calls for extending minimum protections to embedded network customers, ensuring any First Nations data collection is culturally safe and linked to real consumer benefits, clarifying that customers with closed accounts remain entitled to payment difficulty assistance, and improving outage communications while maintaining strict privacy safeguards. The submission acknowledges and is co-signed by Westjustice, the Economic Abuse Reference Group (EARG), and Community Information & Support Victoria (CISVic).