https://thewindowstandard.au/ A national consumer and compliance masthead for Australian window furnishings: shutters, blinds, awnings, curtains and window film. It reports the cord-safety laws state by state, ACCC recalls, bushfire shutter standards and energy ratings for the landlords, parents and buyers who have to act on them, with every factual claim linked to the regulation, notice or dataset it comes from. Free to read; funded by clearly labelled advertising. en https://thewindowstandard.au/news/furnishings-spending-revised-down/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/furnishings-spending-revised-down/ Thu, 01 Oct 2026 05:17:18 GMT A comparison of the July 2026 and August 2026 releases of ABS 5682.0, table 2, for the seasonally adjusted Furnishings and household equipment series. Four of the six most recent months were revised down on the month-on-month measure, and on the level the revision grew the more recent the month, from $1.0 million in April to $14.8 million in July. Includes the August 2026 figures and what the indicator cannot show a window-covering business. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/who-owns-a-blinds-company/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/who-owns-a-blinds-company/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 21:05:47 GMT Australia's free public registers record a company's legal status, not its ownership, and the ACCC's mandatory merger register starts far above the size of this trade. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/deposit-and-warranty-when-a-blind-company-fails/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/deposit-and-warranty-when-a-blind-company-fails/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 01:05:00 GMT Made 2 Trade Pty Ltd, trading as TWO Australia, and All Shutters & Blinds Pty Ltd are both recorded by ASIC as under external administration, while both ABNs read Active on ABN Lookup on the same day. What the gap between the two registers means for a consumer who has paid a deposit. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/bal-and-complying-development/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/bal-and-complying-development/ Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:19:00 GMT Read from Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019: in NSW a BAL Certificate from the local council or a recognised consultant must be obtained before a Complying Development Certificate issues, and it must state that the development is not BAL-40 or BAL-FZ. A site's bushfire rating therefore determines which approval pathway is available, and the NSW RFS states it is not a participant in that approval process. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/how-a-bal-is-assessed/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/how-a-bal-is-assessed/ Sun, 23 Aug 2026 16:52:00 GMT An explainer read from Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019, the NSW Rural Fire Service document published free of charge: what a Bush Fire Attack Level measures, that Appendix 1 replaces Section 2 of AS 3959 for NSW purposes under the National Construction Code, and what the site assessment actually examines including vegetation formation and the worst-case combination of vegetation and slope. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/qualification-no-rtos-transition/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/qualification-no-rtos-transition/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:52:00 GMT MSF30926 Certificate III in Shading and Security Screens has been current since 13 March 2026, and the National Training Register lists no RTO approved to deliver it. The superseded MSF30919 still has three, and every one of their scope end dates is 11 March 2027. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/window-coverings-price-index-gap/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/window-coverings-price-index-gap/ Sun, 16 Aug 2026 10:40:00 GMT Australia's CPI used to publish an expenditure class called Floor and window coverings. In the 16th series, from the September quarter 2011, the ABS discontinued it and split it: floor coverings kept a class of their own, and window coverings were folded in with towels, sheets and tablecloths. That class is 0.464 per cent of the basket and has fallen 9.7 per cent since, while the CPI rose 43.9 per cent. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/standards-access-trade-gap/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/standards-access-trade-gap/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 01:00:00 GMT Reader Room gives free non-commercial access to every Australian Standard, while the trade that must comply pays per standard. The prices, the licence terms, and where the Budget promise has got to. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/wa-landlord-cord-obligation/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/wa-landlord-cord-obligation/ Sat, 01 Aug 2026 11:35:00 GMT An examination of what a Western Australian landlord actually owes on corded window coverings: no tenancy standard exists, but product safety law has applied since January 2004, a general lessor duty applies, and Consumer Protection WA warns of negligence exposure. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/blind-installer-qualification-2026/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/blind-installer-qualification-2026/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 02:00:00 GMT MSF30926 Certificate III in Shading and Security Screens went onto the National Training Register on 13 March 2026, replacing the qualification that had carried the trade's name since 2019. In the endorsed unit for installing interior blinds, checking child safety on corded coverings is written in as a performance criterion. Licensing, the thing that would decide who has to hold any of it, was ruled outside the review's scope. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/rental-cord-rule-national-scoreboard/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/rental-cord-rule-national-scoreboard/ Thu, 09 Jul 2026 02:00:00 GMT We read the rental minimum standards of every Australian state and territory. Victoria's cord-anchor rule, in force since 1 December 2025, is the only one on the books. NSW has announced one its consolidated regulation still does not show. Queensland, Tasmania and SA's rooming houses require only that a covering exist. WA, the ACT and the NT require nothing about window coverings at all. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/window-coverings-by-the-numbers/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/window-coverings-by-the-numbers/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 01:20:00 GMT Home renovation activity rose 10.2 per cent over the year to March 2026, but household furnishings spending has now slowed three months running, to 0.4 per cent in July 2026, and IBISWorld estimates local window-covering manufacturing has shrunk 2.4 per cent a year for five years under import pressure. The demand and supply picture for window coverings, from the primary series, with the gaps stated. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/window-coverings-energy-ratings/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/window-coverings-energy-ratings/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 01:00:00 GMT WERS, the national window energy rating scheme, is active and covers applied window film. WincovER, the scheme built to rate blinds, curtains, shutters and awnings, has published one news item since April 2021 and its certified-products page returns a 404. What a buyer can actually check today. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/bushfire-shutter-standard-price/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/bushfire-shutter-standard-price/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:40:00 GMT AS 3959 decides whether a bushfire shutter is compliant, and reading it costs $286.63 for a one-user licence. The 2026-27 Budget commits to free access to all standards referenced in Australian legislation. What access costs today, what the Budget promises, and what the standard actually asks of a shutter. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/nordic-awning-remote-recall/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/nordic-awning-remote-recall/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:20:00 GMT Hunter Douglas has recalled the AC136-05Bi-CA remote control supplied with Nordic-series motorised awnings under the Luxaflex and Turnils brands, sold 1 February to 17 April 2026. The button battery is not secured and the packaging lacks the mandatory warnings. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/queensland-rental-cord-rule-gap/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/queensland-rental-cord-rule-gap/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Queensland's nine minimum housing standards require privacy coverings in bedrooms but say nothing about cord safety. Victoria now has a dated, numbered retrofit rule; NSW describes one. Queensland renters rely on the federal supply and installation rules, which do not reach coverings hung before 2011 and 2015. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/nsw-blind-cord-rule-paper-trail/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/nsw-blind-cord-rule-paper-trail/ Sat, 04 Jul 2026 23:40:00 GMT Victoria's rental blind cord rule is dated and numbered. In NSW, the safety page describes only the federal installation test, the minimum-standards page and rental-law timeline have no cord entry, and the consolidated tenancy legislation contains none of the rule's numbers. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/federal-cord-safety-standard/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/federal-cord-safety-standard/ Sat, 04 Jul 2026 23:20:00 GMT Australia's cord-safety law is two instruments: the 2010 supply regulations and the 2014 installation standard. What the 220 mm loop and 1,600 mm height rules require, what 70 N means, the exact mandated warning words, and why the 'AS/NZS 4874' the trade cites does not exist. https://thewindowstandard.au/news/victoria-rental-blind-cord-rule/ https://thewindowstandard.au/news/victoria-rental-blind-cord-rule/ Sat, 04 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT Since 1 December 2025 every corded blind or curtain in a Victorian rental must be anchored so no loose loop of 220 mm or more can form within 1,600 mm of the floor, whenever it was installed. The instrument, the dates, the renter's rights and what the fix costs on the government's own figures.