Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the members who contributed to consideration of the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. This bill is about one simple thing: keeping Australians connected and keeping Australians protected. Telecommunications are critical to our everyday lives, but we must ensure the system delivering these services to paying customers is fair and accountable.

The reforms in this bill will significantly strengthen the safeguards to protect consumers, improve enforcement tools and incentivise better behaviour through tougher penalties. They give the industry regulator—the Australian Communications and Media Authority, or ACMA—the tools it needs to ensure telecommunications companies do the right thing by their customers and act quickly in relation to misconduct. That is what we expect from the regulator. Consumers must be front and centre in the work that ACMA does, and I expect them to be proactive in executing their regulatory functions.

The Albanese government is committed to supporting reliable, high-quality and affordable telecommunications services, supported by a strong regulatory and consumer safeguards framework. Already we are undertaking some significant improvements to the telecommunications industry. We have mandated that telcos must notify customers, emergency services and regulators of outages immediately, while also tightening oversight of triple zero. Telcos have a responsibility to prioritise their customers, and we are ensuring the industry meets these expectations. We will continue to do this work to improve the sector. We are ensuring that the industry meets these expectations, and this bill will help.

Specifically, the bill amends the Telecommunications Act 1997 to increase the civil penalties the Federal Court can issue for breaches of industry codes and industry standards from $250,000 to nearly $10 million or more in some circumstances. The bill clarifies the minister's powers to increase infringement notice penalties; makes telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA, enabling the regulator to take swift action; establishes a carriage service provider, CSP, registration scheme to increase visibility of CSPs operating in the market; and stops the operation of those who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers. Our government has listened to the feedback of industry, regulators, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and consumer advocates. We all want to ensure the telecommunications industry meets and delivers a higher standard for customers. This is what these reforms will deliver.

I note the opposition support this bill. We welcome them joining us to protect consumers. I note the member for Lindsay introduced an amendment. We will not be supporting this amendment, which, in practice, has functioned as an opportunity for the opposition to talk about anything other than the substance of this bill. For example, the member for Goldstein used his time to talk about how the government seeks to control Australians. Despite the member's ongoing and lively contributions to the House, the Albanese government is focused on delivering consumer protections for all Australians. This bill is, first and foremost, about looking after consumers as well as driving fairness and building trust in the vital telecommunications industry. I call on members to support the bill.

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