Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's fair to say that, without telecommunications connectivity, living life would be very difficult. Telecommunications connectivity is required to participate in family and personal life, in education, in sport, in business and, importantly, in the community. Therefore, no matter where you live, connection is fundamental. Because of the widespread role telecommunications connectivity plays for all of us, a system that is fair, accountable and built on trust is critical for Australia.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is the regulator of this sector, acting to regulate communications and media with the purpose of maximising the economic and social benefits that communications infrastructure, services and content bring to all Australians. The authority of ACMA is the authority that makes decisions on matters of importance for ACMA, including with respect to telecommunications consumer issues. Covering the internet, telephones, TV, radio and content, spectrum and equipment compliance, the Australian Communications and Media Authority sets and manages rules about communications, media services and markets. It provides licences for people, organisations and products to operate in Australia. It plans and manages the airwaves to make space for new services and technology, such as 5G, and it also considers complaints and problems and takes action when rules are not being followed.

These complaints and problems may relate to a number of different areas—firstly, broadcasting compliance and investigations, which are investigations into TV, radio and online content, and the rules about what broadcasters can show on TV and radio. Secondly, ACMA considers telemarketing and scam compliance and investigations, which, in very broad terms, relate to breaches of the law as they concern the sending of marketing emails or messages. Thirdly, with respect to radiocommunications and telecommunications compliance and investigations, ACMA investigates licensing, interference management device supply arrangements, customer equipment and cabling compliance, media control and ownership compliance and other investigations which also form part of ACMA's remit, which means, in broad terms, ACMA's power to require rectification in circumstances of breaches of statutory control, media diversity or directorship rules. These investigations may require the production of documents, the examination of witnesses or the holding of public hearings.

In addition, ACMA also accepts enforceable undertakings under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the Telecommunications Act 1997, the Spam Act 2003, the Radiocommunications Act 1992 and Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014. Then it issues infringement notices under several pieces of legislation, including the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, Spam Act, Telecommunications Act, Broadcasting Services Act and telecommunications and radiocommunications regulations. The remit is extremely large, and this regime is designed with purpose to facilitate compliance with these important pieces of legislation and regulations, because they regulate telecommunications connectivity, which all Australians need and which must be fair, trustworthy and accountable.

The types of infringement notices ACMA has issued include where organisations have failed to undertake adequate identity checks when porting consumers' mobile numbers from other telecommunications companies. They also include where providers have sent marketing emails and SMSs without consent and without a functional unsubscribe facility and where they have failed to confirm that a person requesting a high-risk customer transaction was in fact the customer or customer's authorised representative, in that there was a failure to use an applicable identity authentication process prior to undertaking the high-risk transaction. There have also been infringement notices where organisations have failed to comply with billing accuracy rules as set out in the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code by not being able to provide, verify and demonstrate accuracy of bills to customers. There can be no reasonable argument against the proposition that Australians deserve for these types of infringements to be investigated, called out and then rectified.

Finally, ACMA's remit also includes telecommunications compliance and investigations, the premise of which is that telecommunications companies must follow certain laws when delivering mobile, landline, internet and NBN services to the Australian public. These laws cover matters including the details and words that advertisements must and must not contain and how telecommunications companies must handle complaints when complaints are made to them. They include rules about customer identity authentication, rules about assisting law enforcement and security agencies with their work and rules for priority assistance services, which relate to landline services for people with life-threatening medical conditions. Telecommunications companies providing these services must meet the rules for the faster repairing of faults and the timeframes for connection of new services and must make arrangements for more reliable service.

With respect to consumer protections, ACMA also takes action in relation to telecommunications to ensure that companies that are delivering mobile, landline and internet services follow laws that are applicable to them and that are directly relevant to the protection of consumers. In carrying out this function, ACMA collects information, consults about issues related to compliance and then assesses the level of risk. More specifically, in doing this, ACMA consults with consumer interest groups; analyses industry complaints data; commissions studies and publishes reports about telecommunications safeguards or the telecommunications consumer experience; provides compliance information to industry; undertakes compliance assessment; investigates serious, repeated and systemic noncompliance, which could be referred to ACMA by external parties or identified by ACMA itself; and takes enforcement action where warranted. Australians need and deserve for ACMA to have this remit so that they are protected when utilising essential telecommunications services.

That's where we get to this bill. It is so important, in that it will equip the telecommunications industry regulator with the tools and powers it needs to protect Australian consumers and to carry out its remit, so Australian consumers do not fall foul of poor and harmful telecommunications practices. Some of the measures this bill proposes include increasing the quantum of civil penalties that can be issued by the Federal Court for breaches of industry codes and standards. This is being increased by 40 times, from $250,000 to nearly $10 million, because bigger deterrents are needed. The bill also modernises the civil penalties framework to give the Federal Court options in relation to issuing fines for regulatory breaches. This can include three times the benefit gained from the regulatory breach, $10 million or 30 per cent of organisation turnover. Currently the civil penalties for breaches of industry codes and standards are not a deterrent. They are not commensurate with the harm caused. They are not high enough to deter noncompliance.

The amendments will also modernise the penalty framework for industry codes, industry standards and service provider determination to allow for penalties based on the value of the benefit obtained from the non-compliant conduct. This penalty framework better aligns with those in other relevant sectors like energy and banking and, under the Australian Consumer Law, more adequately reflects the telecommunications market and, in fairness, the varying sizes of the entities engaged in the market, which range from small to medium businesses to very large corporations. This is an appropriately described discretionary option for the Federal Court.

The bill also establishes a carriage service provider registration scheme to increase visibility of carriage service providers operating in the market and stop the operation of unprincipled CSPs, who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or cause significant harm. The amendments to the Telecommunications Act of 1997 will empower ACMA to stop CSPs who do pose this unacceptable risk from operating in the market. This will provide a further deterrent for significant noncompliance and will increase consumer trust in registered CSPs, including new or smaller CSPs. Importantly, ACMA's power to exclude CSPs from the market is expected to be used as a measure of last resort only, with suitable arrangements for the review of a decision, re-registration avenues and, critically, the maintenance of connectivity for impacted consumers, because we know that connectivity that is as uninterrupted as possible is necessary for everyone. This reform means that carriage service providers that are doing the wrong thing will face consequences and that consumers will be better protected.

Importantly, this bill also makes telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA, incentivising industry compliance and enabling ACMA to take swift action to address consumer harm. Currently, it cannot take direct enforcement action for breaches of the industry codes it has registered under part 6 of the Telecommunications Act, no matter how egregious the breach is, because, under this act, compliance with industry codes is initially technically voluntary. Part 6 of the act prescribes that bodies and associations representing sectors of the telecommunication industry may develop industry codes, that industry codes may be registered by ACMA and that compliance with an industry code is voluntary unless ACMA directs a particular participant to so comply. So, currently, if a breach is found, ACMA can either direct a provider to comply with the code or issue a formal warning. The bill introduces amendments to part 6 of the Telecommunications Act to make compliance mandatory, which removes the need for ACMA to direct a particular participant to comply with the code in the first instance.

This bill also builds on the work that the Albanese government has delivered since coming to office in 2022, including a new industry standard requiring telecommunications companies to support and assist consumers experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence. This bill is designed to increase levels of public trust in Australia's telecommunications system by further empowering the regulator to take meaningful action in relation to specific and clearly defined instances of noncompliance.

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