RLC in the media

Can consumers expect better service and complaints handling from their phone company? And if not, who can they turn to for help? They are among the questions the Australian Communications and Media Authority will address in its draft report Reconnecting the Customer that it will publish today.

Civil libertarians have criticised state government plans to extend police powers to order drunk people in public places to ''move on'', saying it will lead to an increase in arrests of indigenous, homeless and mentally ill people.

Rogue landlords in Marsfield in Sydney's north west are piling as many as 20 students into shoddily converted family homes, demanding cash in hand and advance notice of visitors to avoid detection by authorities, international students say.

The chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service is spot on with her statement that "employers need to be less discriminatory".

Jacqui Swinburne, Tenancy Coordinatory on ABC Triple J program, Students' O-Week Special on Sharing House.

Lawyers say foreign students are struggling with accommodation and workplace rip-offs despite an overhaul of the tertiary sector.

I sympathise with Michael Texilake's concerns (Letters, July 20), but many of his complaints can effectively be dealt with by existing legal remedies where the conduct is threatening or excessive. A more effective short-term solution to "music, burn-outs, fights and all-night public rampages" may be found in the Summary Offences Act and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.

The City of Sydney is planning to create another 19 alcohol-free zones in Surry Hills and Redfern, despite criticism the zones simply force people with drinking problems into places where help from social service agencies is not available.

Moving out of home for the first time can be a bit like having your first baby. Everyone suddenly seems to be full of unsolicited advice, gadgets they swear you can't live without and embarrassing stories you wish they'd kept to themselves. Have they forgotten that blundering through major life experiences utterly ill prepared is half the fun?

Increasing rent prices are driving more employed people into boarding houses, driving out the unemployed and homeless.