The Moriah Foundation Trusted Advisors Network Lunch

It was wonderful to come together for our Moriah Foundation Trusted Advisors Network Lunch warmly hosted by our longstanding corporate sponsors, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, with our esteemed guest of honour, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Chair of the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission.

The Moriah Foundation launched the network last year because we wanted to raise awareness among practitioners about the very real needs of our Moriah Foundation and our reliance on bequests for our future sustainability.

It is also an opportunity for practitioners to connect, and to hear from keynote speakers and industry leaders at interesting and intimate events throughout the year.

“As trusted advisors, it’s important that we share our planned giving opportunities with you, including our Gifts in Wills Program, and explain the life-changing impact our donors are making to the lives of our children and their families.”Foundation President, Judy Lowy OAM

Judy reflected on the unfortunate reality that many families in our community are desperate to bring their children to Moriah but cannot afford to do so without assistance.

Judy also shared that Moriah is embarking on an important capital campaign next year to replace more than 60% of our outdated High School buildings with purpose-built contemporary learning environments that will double our green space. “There will be a wide range of signature naming rights available and dedicating a space in which generations of children will learn and thrive, imbued with our modern orthodox Zionist values, is such a meaningful legacy.”

An informative address by Gina Cass-Gottleib
Protecting consumers and small business from the harms of social media

Gina was a warm and engaging speaker, opening her address by saying, “I am delighted to be here with my friends and my community and while I am the first female Chair of the ACCC, I am the third Jew… It is good to see that we have, as Jews, contributed significantly to competition and consumer protection over many years.”

Gina discussed the important steps that the ACCC is taking to safeguard and protect Australian consumers and small business from harms on digital platforms and to stopping conduct that is anti-competitive and harmful to the welfare and prosperity of all Australians.

In outlining the harms and impacts observed by the ACCC on digital platforms, Gina shared some staggering statistics including:
• The tech sector contributed $167B to the Australian economy in 2021 which is 8.5% of GDP and growing.
• Australians spend nearly 6 hours a day online.
• 80% of Australians are social media users, averaging 2 hours a day.
• 82% of Australian small to medium sized businesses commenced their business on either Facebook or Instagram.
• Australia’s top 20 highest spending advertisers spend 70% of their digital advertising budget on social media services.
• Growing advertising on Facebook has not deterred users.
• The global influencer marketing industry is expected to grow from $6B in 2020 to $24B by 2025.

Gina discussed key social and economic harms for consumers that require protections including:
• Over $80M in losses in 2022 from scams. 
• Fake ratings and reviews.
• Fake accounts by bad actors.
• Lack of transparency by advertisers.
• Algorithms that keep feeding consumers information with no capacity to change settings.
• Generative AI which can be incredibly beneficial, but also greatly increase the risk of scams and fake reviews though personalised messaging and synthetic voice.

Some of the protections proposed by the ACCC include:
• User friendly processes to report scams and verify the identity of business advertisers.
• Dispute resolution processes.
• Tracking data and informing government.
• Advocating for the introduction of codes to safeguard consumers.

Gina answered questions from the audience on a range of issues including what the ACCC is doing to combat online subscription traps, seek to deter and impede offshore criminal enterprises who target scams at Australians, and the proceedings commenced by the ACCC concerning Qantas’ alleged conduct in relation to cancelled flights.

A vote of thanks

We are incredibly proud of our association with Gina as a past parent and friend of Moriah College, and daughter of one of our first ever Moriah students.

Australians are fortunate to have a Chair of Gina’s exceptional calibre supporting fair trade and ensuring the proper functioning of Australian markets, and we wish her continued success in her important role in protecting the interests and safety of consumers.