Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Telecommunications is essential to the lives of every Australian. In 2026 the importance of quality, reliable and affordable mobile services cannot be understated. We rely on mobile phones for connectivity more than ever. Despite that, Australia's longstanding universal service obligation does not include mobile services. For rural and remote parts of Australia, that means no access to something as basic as being able to pick up your phone and dial triple zero during an emergency. The universal outdoor mobile obligation will change that.

We are, for the first time, establishing a legislative framework to create a universal outdoor mobile obligation. Our national mobile network operators—Telstra, Optus and TPG—will, for the first time, need to provide reasonable access to outdoor baseline mobile coverage across Australia on an equitable basis. The amendment bill before us, the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025, is about recognising the importance of mobile services as essential services and treating them as such. That's because traditional mobile coverage is currently provided in areas where about 99 per cent of Australians work and live but covers only one-third of the Australian landmass. In those areas, of around five million squared kilometres, it is not possible to make a triple zero call. We are making sure that, when it comes to telecommunications, no-one is held back and no-one is left behind.

I've seen the need for amendment bills like this one before us firsthand in my electorate of Gorton. In Melbourne's west, we're one of the fastest-growing electorates in the country. I represent over 50,000 families across the electorate, with new ones being created every day. We have about 10 babies being born in the city of Melton alone every single day. In so many ways my electorate represents Australia as a whole, with its vitality, its rich cultural and linguistic make-up and its aspirations for the future. An electorate like mine—young, diverse and aspirational—has many needs that have yet to be met. But as communities grow infrastructure needs to keep up. I'm talking about the basics, like quality roads, access to water and sewerage infrastructure, and telecommunications.

Right now in my community, suburbs like Truganina, Mount Atkinson, Fraser Rise, Bonnie Brook, Aintree, Rockbank, Thornhill Park and Deanside don't have adequate mobile services. These communities don't have basic access to things people living in inner-city suburbs take for granted—like regular internet access to call your friends and relatives, to go about your everyday life, for kids to do homework, for parents to work from home or operate a local business, or for emergency services to be accessible in those most crucial moments. Emergency services are a true lifeline, and access to those emergency services when you need it is crucial. In those terrifying moments, seconds are critical. Not having the most basic access to mobile data is life-threatening. It is simply unacceptable that we have growing communities in Melbourne's outer suburbs who don't have access to telecommunications.

In my electorate, I've launched a campaign, the Mobile Signal Strength and Blackspot Mapping Survey. We've sent it out to the community asking them to help us identify our mobile coverage black spots, particularly in new suburbs within the growth corridor of Gorton, so we can collect real location based evidence to demonstrate the impact telecommunications has on the safety, business and daily life of our community and to advocate for community updates from service providers and infrastructure upgrades where required. I've had hundreds of responses to my community survey. Our community is coming together, helping us to identify those black spots and advocating for change, because telcos are an essential service provider and we need to hold them to account to adequately deliver these services. I know access to telecommunications is not a luxury, and I know it is an essential service that underpins public safety.

What we're doing here with this bill is providing that basic mobile access right across Australia, across rural and remote areas. There were people who thought it would never even be possible to deliver mobile coverage across Australia. I get that; Australia is a massive continent with vast inland areas. But with the advent of the new low earth orbit satellite direct-to-direct technology, this pipe dream will now become a reality.

Some have also said that we should wait until the technology is widely available before legislating the UOMO. But waiting is a risky game. We are legislating the UOMO now to ensure baseline mobile coverage is widely available, and available as quickly as possible. Waiting would mean leaving rollout decisions to industry alone and risking some Australians being left behind. What we're doing here is clever planning to avoid problems like what I'm seeing in my community right now, where one of the biggest barriers to provision of mobile towers is that they aren't accommodated for in industry planning and, as a result, some Aussies are getting left behind. Here's what we're doing to make sure no-one gets left behind.

This bill modernises Australia's universal service framework. Historically, universal service obligations focused on fixed voice services and payphones, but the reality is that Australians now overwhelmingly rely on their mobile phones. Mobile services are no longer optional extras; they are essential infrastructure. This bill updates the law to reflect the way Australians actually communicate in 2026. It incorporates designated mobile telecommunications services into the existing universal service regime for the very first time. To be clear, the UOMO isn't about replacing traditional mobile coverage with new technology; it's about ensuring they work together to complement each other, and making sure that together these networks cover as much of Australia as possible and enable the community to benefit from new technology. Initially, the mobile telecommunications services subject to the UOMO will be voice services and SMS, reflecting the early technology capability of our policy objectives of public safety. We're also creating a flexible framework with this bill, where the scope and timing of the UOMO can be adjusted by ministerial instrument as the market develops and satellite technology evolves as well.

We have a proposed default date of 1 December 2027. At this time, all three operators will be required to ensure that baseline mobile coverage is reasonably available outdoors throughout Australia. We also recognise that there are some circumstances where Optus, Telstra and TPG will not be able to meet this obligation. For example, D2D requires a clear line of sight to the sky. Sometimes this isn't possible to achieve. I know this well because it's also an issue in my community, in our growth corridor. We recognise that, but the intent of this bill is to make sure that services are available as widely as possible.

We're also creating new powers to set standards, rules and benchmarks for mobile services, with flexibility for these to apply before the UOMO starts. Standards, rules and benchmarks are so important here because it sets expectations for telcos and for our communities as well. Here we're providing a framework to hold industry to account if it doesn't deliver. Standards could cover issues like ensuring that there are affordable products to meet the needs of vulnerable groups or requiring industry to reduce the impact of planned mobile outages through better planning. Whilst standards will need close consideration, including the content of those standards and even the need for them, it's important to have the ability to step in if the market doesn't deliver. To make sure that's an option, there'll be a close consultation with regulators, industry and consumer groups to make sure standards are fair but consumer focused.

Importantly, this framework is enforceable. We are making sure that the ACMA will have responsibility for enforcement of the UOMO—there are a lot of acronyms here—and any associated standards, rules and benchmarks. That includes powers to investigate breaches, issue infringement notices, impose penalties and take compliance action where required, because obligations only matter if there is accountability behind them, and because communities deserve confidence that telecommunications providers will actually deliver the services that Australians rely on.

Importantly, this bill is also technology neutral. That means it does not prescribe a single technological solution. That flexibility is important because this technology is continuing to evolve rapidly—it's evolving every single day—and we want to make sure that regulation can evolve alongside this innovation as well.

This legislation is one piece in the puzzle of making sure every Australian can make a triple zero call no matter where they are. Our government has already taken significant steps to improve equitable access to mobile coverage. We've brought in the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia, which provides more than $1 billion to rural and regional communities to improve mobile and broadband connectivity and resilience. It funds programs like the Regional Connectivity Program, the On Farm Connectivity Program, the Mobile Black Spot Program and the Regional Tech Hub. These are programs that improve access to reliable communications for households, businesses and farms, provide targeted solutions for communities with unique connectivity challenges and reduce gaps in mobile and internet access between metro and regional areas.

The BCP has also responded to emerging needs and government priorities by funding new initiatives that include support for broadcasts and news initiatives, extending the School Student Broadband Initiative and the First Nations Digital Inclusion package. This package is a critical step towards ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have equal levels of digital inclusion. It's a $68 million package of measures that improve access to internet and mobile services, digital services and infrastructure. These include telehealth, education, banking and government services, and this ensures that our First Nations Australians can access the information and services they need to make informed choices about their own lives and their own communities.

Our government has also provided significant funding to upgrade the NBN in regional, rural and remote Australia, including upgrading fixed-line areas with more resilient fibre services and expanding the fixed wireless footprint. We've also taken significant steps to strengthen regulations for telcos and ensure that telcos are providing transparent, reliable and equitable services to all Australians. In November 2024, we directed the ACMA to introduce enforceable industry standards to improve how telco companies communicate with their customers. These rules require telcos to keep customers informed and updated on major outages, and they ensure that in the event of an outage those affected receive communications and can access clear information about the outage.

Last year, we expanded on those rules with the significant local outages standard. This standard ensures that, when local outages occur, consumers are informed of the outage and updated with information, including the likely cause of the outage, the types of services impacted and the estimated timeframe for the issue to be resolved. We also directed the ACMA to introduce new obligations around preventing and managing triple zero outages. Since April last year, telcos have been required to provide information about outages to police, fire and ambulance services and report it to the ACMA. Significantly, the rules also mandate that, when a triple zero outage occurs, the provider enables calls to be carried by an alternative telco network. These new standards are clear and enforceable with serious financial penalties and civil proceedings in the Federal Court.

Earlier this year, we also directed the ACMA to ensure that appropriate support is provided to telecommunications customers experiencing financial hardships. The new financial hardship standard mandates that telcos establish and promote their hardship policies, identify customers experiencing financial hardship, provide a better range of options for assistance and prioritise keeping customers connected. This reform acknowledges that, as an essential service, telecommunications need to be available to everyone, including those experiencing financial hardship. It sets a clear standard that telcos must accommodate people in vulnerable circumstances and ensure that they are able to access telecommunications. For the first time, we're ensuring that telcos provide reasonable access to outdoor baseline mobile coverage across Australia.

We know that this legislation is the right decision because we know it's what rural and remote communities need right now across Australia. Extensive consultation informed this legislation with industry, consumer representatives, state and local governments as well as telecommunications stakeholders. That included mobile network providers, consumer advocacy groups and regional representatives. It's a collaborative process that has helped ensure the framework is practical, flexible and focused on public outcomes. It's been designed with the communities it will serve. The rural and remote communities have been at the absolute forefront of this thinking. It's so important because, at its core, connectivity is about safety, about equitable access to services and about better access to emergency services and support. This is exactly what this bill is focused on.

No Australian should be unable to contact emergency services because they live outside a metro area, and no growing community like mine should be left behind because of infrastructure planning failing to keep pace. We are bringing Australia's telecommunications framework into the modern era, expanding access to mobile connectivity, strengthening public safety and ensuring that all Australians, no matter where they live, can remain connected when it matters most.

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