> About OCBA  > Strategic plan  > Challenges

The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs (OCBA) is the South Australian Government agency that provides administrative support for the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs. The Commissioner is responsible for managing consumer policy and administering the State consumer legislation, managing tenancy legislation, administering a range of occupational licensing and registration schemes, maintaining the State civil and business registers, and providing information and dispute resolution services for consumers.

The modern consumer environment presents many challenges. Consumer agencies must strive to deal effectively with the needs and expectations of diverse communities, rapidly changing and advancing business methods, and trading that crosses borders with increasing ease and regularity. Within this environment, many consumers are well informed about their basic rights and entitlements, but many remain ignorant. Many have access to computers and are sophisticated users of electronic communications. Others continue to rely on the more traditional means of doing business and obtaining information and service.

Consumer agencies also confront regularly the potential for change in their customer bases. The contact base of consumer agencies has broadened over their respective lifetimes to encompass a range of fields of commercial activity. Typically, the consumer legislation they administer now includes occupational licensing and residential tenancies, to the point of these matters becoming major parts of their ongoing functions. There is ongoing debate about whether, for the purpose of ensuring fairer dealing across the board, the constituencies of these agencies should be broadened to encompass small business' dealings with large business.

OCBA also incorporates the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office, which maintains records of births, deaths, marriages and other important information that helps to establish and define the identities of South Australians. OCBA must be sure it can allow appropriate access to these records, while protecting individuals and the community from identity theft and identity fraud.

Changes in community focus and the ongoing development of government policy also mean that consumer agencies are repeatedly asked to develop initiatives to deal with the interests of particular groups of consumers. These may focus on the imposition of controls on the behaviour of certain occupations or business groups, but they also include initiatives that address disadvantage in particular parts of the community.

Against this complex background, OCBA strives to maintain a balance between pursuing modern and effective business methods and ensuring that as many South Australians as possible can get access to and benefit from our services. We aim to be a strong advocate of consumers and an effective protector of their interests. This strategic plan describes our objectives and the approach we will take to achieve them.

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