NSW Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney has said a survey conducted by the Office of Fair Trading showed that three quarters of the teenage respondents were “not confident” about getting satisfaction from a premium mobile content provider over a high bill, and only half knew there was an external body where they could raise their concerns. Which is alarming in the context of “financial counselling services ... reporting a rising rate of young people seeking to declare themselves bankrupt” as The Age reports. “They are having young people in their late teens, early 20s, suggesting they should become a bankrupt because they have racked up thousands of dollars in premium services on mobile phones,” Ms Burney said..."More and more young people are seeking financial counselling services ... and without exception, every single person in the financial counselling services area, who has spoken to me, say the problem starts with a mobile phone.” Now, exact figures aren’t given and politicians are known to run to rhetoric a bit, but it only takes a few teenagers declaring bankruptcy over multi-thousand dollar phone bills to get the public up in arms and the government regulating, which nobody wants. Surely a little flag saying “hey, this person has spent $200 on mobile content, we should let them know” isn’t that hard to implement? They might have some processes in place, but in this instance a 95 or 99 percent success rate isn’t enough.

• Australian Government Debates Law On Mobile Content