Carol Berry (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Reliable telephone and internet services are key to all aspects of life in today's world. Telecommunications is an essential service as critical as other core utilities like power and water, and, at its best, it enables Australians to fully participate in and contribute to society. Modern telecommunications allows people to stay connected with friends and family, and, importantly, this includes overcoming barriers that may be created by age and distance. It provides access to important government services, including vital health services as well as banking and retail shopping services. It empowers us to stay informed about what's happening in the world, and it assists businesses to become more productive and competitive.

Modern telecommunications enables remote study and work, revolutionising both education and labour—a shift that has accelerated and become entrenched since the COVID-19 pandemic. This change in the way we live and work has placed even greater importance and reliance on telecommunications. Telecommunications is fundamental to our private and public lives, and that is why the Albanese government is committed to keeping Australians connected no matter where they live. This government also believes that Australians deserve a telecommunications system that is fair, accountable and built on trust. That is why we introduced the telecommunications financial hardship industry standard, which requires telecommunications providers to take all reasonable steps to proactively identify customers who may be experiencing financial hardship, to ensure they provide appropriate support and to prioritise keeping customers connected. Importantly, the standard provides the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, with strong enforcement powers to ensure telecommunications companies are following through on their obligations.

The Albanese government also established a mandatory telecommunications industry standard to further protect Australians impacted by domestic and family violence. The domestic, family and sexual violence industry standard, which came into effect on 1 July last year, ensures victims-survivors receive better support from their telecommunications provider and removes barriers faced when seeking help. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 was amended last year to establish a scams prevention framework that places consistent obligations on the telecommunications, banking and digital platform sectors to prevent, detect and disrupt scams.

The Albanese government recently took action to strengthen our triple zero system following two Optus outages that affected these vital services in September 2025. The first outage resulted in the failure of over 600 triple zero calls, mostly in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Tragically, three failed calls may be linked to deaths. The second outage resulted in at least nine triple zero calls from the Dapto area—which is in my electorate of Whitlam—failing to reach emergency services. Thankfully, welfare checks confirmed all those who called triple zero during this second outage were okay. These unacceptable outages are being investigated by the independent regulator, and the Albanese government has taken action to strengthen oversight of the triple zero system through legislation.

The new laws give the triple zero custodian the power to demand information from telecommunications providers through ACMA so it can monitor triple zero performance, identify risks, respond more quickly to outages and make improvements. The legislation also increases the maximum penalty faced by telcos to $30 million for failing to follow the triple zero rules. Other actions taken by the Albanese government to strengthen the triple zero system include real-time reporting of outages to ACMA and emergency services; new rules forcing telcos to test triple zero during upgrades and maintenance; new requirements for providers to ensure triple zero calls fall back to other networks; mandatory improvement after triple zero outages; additional performance requirements, to be issued by the custodian, through ACMA, to telcos within six months of the commencement of the laws to assure Australians of best practice; and a public register of network outages, to be maintained by telcos.

The Albanese government's implementation of the legislative amendments and new standards that I've outlined confirm that we understand the critical role telecommunications plays in today's world and that consumers must be protected. The bill currently before the House, the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill, continues this positive work by equipping ACMA with the tools and powers it needs to protect Australian consumers from poor and harmful telecommunications practices.

This bill will result in several important changes. First, it increases the civil penalties the Federal Court can issue for breaches of industry codes and industry standards by 40 times. Currently, civil penalties for breaches of industry codes and industry standards are not in line with the harm that can be caused or high enough to deter noncompliance.

The bill amends the Telecommunications Act 1997 to increase the maximum general civil penalty for breaches of industry codes and industry standards from $250,000 to 30,300 penalty units—which is currently equivalent to just under $10 million—to align with penalties currently available for breaches of service provider determinations. The amendments also modernise the penalty framework for industry codes, industry standards and service provider determinations to allow for penalties based on the value of the benefit obtained from the conduct or the turnover of the relevant provider, allowing for penalties greater than $10 million. The Federal Court will now have the option to issue fines for regulatory breaches, which can include $10 million fines, three times the benefit gained from the regulatory breach, or 30 per cent of turnover. This penalty framework better aligns with those in other relevant sectors like energy and banking, and, under Australian Consumer Law, it more adequately reflects the telecommunications market and the varying size of the entities engaged in the market, ranging from small to medium businesses to very large companies, allowing the Federal Court to determine the appropriate penalty imposed on an entity for a breach. The bill also expands and clarifies the Minister for Communications' authority to increase infringement notice penalties that ACMA can issue for breaches of industry codes, industry standards and service provider determinations.

This bill establishes a carriage service provider registration scheme. Under the Telecommunications Act, there is a distinction between carriers, which operate telecommunication networks and infrastructure, and carriage service providers, or CSPs, which provide a range of telecommunications services such as phone or internet access. Currently, only carriers are required to be licensed and registered with ACMA, and there is no comprehensive list of carriage service providers operating in the market. This omission hampers ACMA's efforts to proactively educate carriage service providers about their obligations and target compliance and enforcement activity.

In September 2023, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts released a discussion paper concerning whether a CSP registration or licensing scheme should be developed for the telecommunications industry. The paper noted:

… there has traditionally been a low barrier to enter the telecommunications market as a CSP. This low barrier has enabled a large and diverse market for the supply of telecommunications services. However, some stakeholders have argued it has also allowed some providers to operate in a manner that causes significant consumer detriment … The market is open and competitive, with a significant number of CSPs—with estimates there may be approximately 1,500 'eligible CSPs' and a much larger number of general CSPs. Telecommunications have become firmly entrenched as an essential service in general life and commerce. Against this backdrop, it is appropriate to revisit fundamental aspects of the framework, including whether CSPs should be covered by a registration or licensing scheme.

The discussion paper noted that both Canada and Singapore operate telecommunications service provider registers or licence systems, and it outlined arguments in favour of a CSP registration/licensing scheme that included 'increasing visibility of CSPs operating in the market', which would assist regulatory agencies such as ACMA to provide education on CSP obligations, and 'facilitating an effective mechanism' for ACMA to stop CSPs that 'pose unacceptable risk to consumers, or cause significant consumer harm' operating in the market.

Establishing a CSP registration scheme will increase visibility of the market and stop the operation of dodgy CSPs who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or cause significant consumer harm. It will also give ACMA and other government agencies the ability to educate providers, streamline complaints and compliance process, and create better overall market accountability. In the energy sector, the Australian Energy Regulator has the power to exclude energy retailers from the market, and it has used this power to quickly prevent and stop consumer harm. ACMA's power to exclude CSPs from the market is expected to be used as a measure of last resort, with suitable arrangements for a review of decisions, avenues for reregistration and maintaining connectivity for impacted consumers. Importantly, this reform means CSPs that are doing the wrong thing will face consequences, and consumers will be better protected.

Another amendment in this bill will make telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA. This will incentivise industry compliance and enable the regulator to take swift action to address consumer harm. ACMA currently cannot take direct enforcement action for breaches of the industry codes it has registered under the act. Compliance is, initially, technically voluntary. If a breach is found, ACMA can direct a provider to comply with the code or issue a formal warning. ACMA can only take stronger enforcement action if the provider continues its noncompliance—that is, it fails to observe ACMA's direction to comply.

The bill introduces amendments to part 6 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 to make compliance with industry codes mandatory and remove the need for ACMA to direct a particular participant to comply with the code in the first instance. These reforms will ensure ACMA is an empowered and effective regulator and that appropriate structures are in place to drive better behaviour by telecommunications companies.

In supporting this bill, I believe that it is important to note that the Albanese government is delivering on a more connected Australia by investing in regional connectivity. This includes $50 million for Regional Roads Australia Mobile Program pilot programs, with $10 million invested in my home state of New South Wales. These pilot programs test new and innovative solutions to increase mobile communications coverage on regional highways and major roads.

Round 3 of the Regional Connectivity Program awarded over $115 million towards 74 projects that respond to local priorities, with the objective of maximising economic opportunities and social benefits for regional, rural and remote communities. This includes $7.4 million towards seven projects targeting improved connectivity for First Nations communities in central Australia from a dedicated central Australia stream.

Two successful rounds of the On Farm Connectivity Program have provided over $30 million in rebates, delivering thousands of connectivity solutions for primary producers, and $20 million has been committed to round 3 of this program. In addition, the $55 million round 8 of the Mobile Black Spot Program is under assessment.

It is essential that all Australians, regardless of their individual circumstances, are able to access and use telecommunications services. Contemporary consumer safeguards and industry obligations should reflect the role of telecommunications as an essential service, especially as businesses, governments and other organisations increasingly shift to online interaction platforms. This bill strengthens the safeguards that protect consumers and cracks down on telecommunications providers who mistreat customers. It ensures telecommunications providers meet community expectations by acting in good faith, providing reliable services and supporting customers. If they don't do these things, they will be accountable to the regulator. These are important reforms, and I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context