Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on this legislation as it is a great example of the government taking real action to allow local businesses to prosper and consumers to benefit from a more efficient telecommunications environment. This government has laid out a new deregulatory course. There are now two repeal days in parliament each year and dedicated deregulation units in each major federal department. I thank the member for Kooyong, who from day one has been kind enough to include me in his team on this front to find different ways we can get out of the way of businesses and let them go on and do what they do best, which is to prosper and make profit. The government is about getting out of the way of business. Naturally, some degree of regulation is required to establish effective markets and working communities. But excessive red tape detracts from productivity and ultimately lowers living standards.

The regulatory burden on the telecommunications industry is especially harsh. A build-up of red tape over almost two decades has left us with numerous outdated requirements which do nothing but inhibit innovation and put barriers in the way of new businesses looking to join the industry and enhance the competitive environment. Together, the measures proposed in this bill will deliver savings to industry and individuals of $6.7 million over 10 years. That is a significant saving. The abolition of the Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency, TUSMA, and the transfer of its functions will provide greater certainty for the industry by having a single agency responsible for both policy and the arrangements concerning the universal service obligation, the national relay service and the 000 emergency service. Further measures in these bills seek to improve the operation of the Do Not Call Register and remove a variety of redundant legislation.

It should be noted that the Department of Communications has collaborated quietly with all industry stakeholders on these measures, releasing a discussion paper and a telecommunications deregulation road map in the last year and following up with a stakeholder forum in May this year. Significantly for the department industry and the public were invited to join an online discussion to make the consultation process more interactive.

Looking at a number of these measures in detail provides an indication of just how important and comprehensive the bill is. Firstly, a key component in the bill relates to the repeal of the Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency Act 2012 and the transfer of its functions and responsibilities to the Department of Communications. This was announced in the May 2014 budget. Transferring TUSMA's functions to the department will streamline the delivery of public interest telecommunications by reducing bureaucratic duplication and enabling clear lines of accountability. This reform will also create greater certainty for industry by having a single agency responsible for both policy and the implementation of contractual arrangements concerning the universal service obligation, the national relay service and the 000 emergency service.

All too often, businesses right across our country are tied down by paperwork and having to deal with multiple agencies. This bill helps lighten the load. The bill will remove the requirement for carriers to provide audited eligible revenue returns, thereby lifting a significant red tape imposition from those carriers. Currently, around 25 carriers have annual revenue in excess of $25 million and therefore must pay an industry levy for the provision of the USO and other public interest services. At present, having to provide a fully audited return adds a cost burden of around $300,000 to those carriers, costs which are inevitably passed down to consumers. Removing this requirement clearly benefits the industry without in any way compromising the regulator's ability to assess eligible revenues and determine levy contributions. It will also deliver a modest reduction in the Telecommunications Industry Levy paid by industry and is consistent with the recommendations of the National Commission of Audit to reduce and consolidate smaller agencies in an attempt to reduce administrative and governance costs. Importantly, the transfer of TUSMA's functions will have no impact on Telstra's universal service obligation which ensures that standard telephone services and payphones are reasonably accessible, on an equitable base, to all people in Australia.

Another important element to this bill relates to the Do Not Call Register. With this measure, the government is moving to permit a onetime sign-up for the very popular Do Not Call Register. I know this, because I am on it, and I know this register is widely used by people throughout my electorate. The Do Not Call Register enables individuals to list private, government and emergency service fixed-line telephone and mobile numbers to prevent unsolicited contact from telemarketers. The register became operational in May 2007 and is working effectively to prevent invasive and, at times, intimidating telephone calls.

As of 31 March 2014, 9.4 million telephone numbers were listed on the Do Not Call Register, including two-thirds of Australian households with a fixed-line home telephone and close to four million mobile telephone numbers. However, registrations are currently time limited. Originally the registration period was set at three years; however, the previous minister made a determination under the act of 2010 to extend the period of registration on three occasions. The registration period currently sits at eight years. Without regulatory intervention numbers on the register would begin to expire from 31 May 2015. This makes no sense. It is time we removed the time limit, and that is what we will do.

The Department of Communications issued a discussion paper for consultation in December 2013 regarding the optimal registration period to which 3,020 submissions were received. Political parties, members of parliament, political candidates, religious and educational organisations and charities are all exempt from the application of the Do Not Call Act, and this amendment will not alter any public interest exemptions. Not surprisingly, a 2013 study found that 56 per cent of the respondents felt annoyed by unsolicited marketing approaches and 39 per cent of respondents expressed concern about how their details were obtained by the organisation contacting them. The extension of this registration period to an unlimited period will save consumers around $3.4 million annually and is a sensible measure.

The bill will also remove the arrangements for ACMA to register e-marketing codes. Following public consultation ACMA deregistered the e-marketing code in June 2014 as it was no longer relevant, with a cost saving of $2 million. Moreover, the e-marketing provisions in the Telecommunications Act are now more than a decade old, and there is broad stakeholder consensus that the Spam Act 2003 adequately addresses the range of problems associated with unsolicited commercial electronic messages and is sufficiently flexible to enable ACMA to address a broad range of issues. Therefore, consumers will still enjoy a strong consumer protection measure under the regulations.

Another very important element to this bill relates to preselection, which allows consumers to choose a different provider for local calls or line rentals and long-distance and/or international calls. Whilst there are 10.3 million landlines in service in Australia, only 30,000 consumers still choose to vary their service providers under preselection. Preselection was introduced in the early 1990s to foster competition and was once quite popular; however, its declining use is due mostly to bundled telephone service offerings from providers and the ease with which consumers can now switch providers anyway. Providing preselection imposes costs for industry—for example, in developing and deploying appropriate software to enable preselection to operate. The amendments contained in this schedule are proposed as a deregulatory measure to relax the future requirements to provide for preselection. Preselection functionality will continue to be available to those consumers who are currently making use of it. However, carriers will no longer be obliged to build systems to offer preselection as part of the supply of a standard telephone service—a move that is better for business and better for consumers.

A further measure under this bill includes the modernising of publication requirements which currently require publication in the government Gazette. Who reads the government Gazette?

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