Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In summing up—when the signal drops, productivity stops. Farmers are being forced to fund expensive workarounds like Starlink because the service they are paying for is failing them. This is unacceptable in this day and age. Places like Tarcowie, Balaklava, Cummins, Wudinna and Weetulta cannot wait any longer.

Since I last spoke on this bill, the latest round of the Mobile Black Spot Program was released. The electorate of Grey, covering 92.3 per cent of South Australia, an area bigger than New South Wales, has been allocated one new tower. Under the previous coalition government, 56 towers were installed. Fifty-six versus one is unacceptable. Imagine if these kinds of mobile black spots were in Canberra. There would be a royal commission, not silence and inaction. What would happen if those opposite couldn't make a call to triple zero if their house was on fire? There would be an outrage. It would be front-page news. But, because it is out of sight in the bush, for this Labor government it is therefore out of mind.

We have the Better Connectivity Plan and we have the funding. What we lack is the urgency to get transmitters on towers and signals into these areas. I call on the minister and Telstra to stop hiding behind terrain maps and technical excuses and finally switch on phone connection in the bush. I am committed to the people of Grey. My job is to ensure that, whether you are in Wallaroo, Port Pirie or Ceduna, you are not treated like a second-class citizen by a government that only cares about the inner-city suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne.

This bill provides the tools to punish bad providers, and that is a good thing. But there is much more that needs to be done in this area, especially in regional and rural South Australia. We need to stop the scams that target our isolated and elderly residents—scams that cost Australians over $100 million last year. We need the emergency call database to be accurate so ambulances show up to the right house or the right farm at the right time. But a fine of $10 million doesn't help a farmer who can't call an ambulance. A registration process doesn't help an elderly woman whose fall-detector battery is dying because it is constantly searching for a signal that no longer exists.

The coalition supports the bill, but we condemn the neglect. We need a government that understands that regional Australia is the engine room of our nation. Our farmers, our miners and our regional small businesses deserve better than a 'sorry; no service' message from the Albanese government. Regional SA is calling out for help. The question is: will the government answer?

Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. Telecommunications is no longer about making a phone call. It's about how we work, how we learn, how we do business, how we entertain and how we stay safe. In Brisbane and across the country, connectivity underpins almost every part of our daily lives. Whether you're a parent working from home in Paddington, a small cafe in New Farm using online ordering systems or a student at the Queensland University of Technology streaming lectures, telecommunications is not optional. It is essential infrastructure. It keeps us connected to what we do.

Just a few years ago, COVID accelerated the development and uptake of technology, making it easier for people to work from home and do business more quickly. Teams and Zoom are now part of the fabric of how we work, but it's just one piece of the technology landscape. Living in a digital age has changed in my lifetime, and it's certainly different to what generations before us experienced. In my first speech, I relayed the story of how a few of us at high school pushed the community and the school to get one computer that we could all share. Now we all carry them around in our backpacks and in our bags, along with our tablets and our mobile phones. Even as I'm speaking here, I'm sure there are people in this chamber using their devices to respond to emails or catch up on the news. We are more connected than ever before.

That's why Australia deserves a telecommunications system that is fair, accountable and built on trust. And it's why this Albanese Labor government is taking action through this bill to give the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, the power it needs to hold companies to account, to protect consumers and to build a system that works for everyone. For too long, penalties for misconduct in the telecommunications sector have been too low to really act as a genuine deterrent. The maximum civil penalty for breaching an industry code or standard has been $250,000. That may be a lot to a family living in Brisbane and dealing with the cost of living, but to a billion-dollar telecommunications company it is nothing more than loose change. We've seen the consequences: too many Australians have been hit with unfair fees and misleading offers and left stranded without services.

You may recall the recent story where Optus was investigated by the ACCC and then admitted to engaging in unconscionable conduct. The company agreed to a $10 million penalty for selling customers phones and contracts they didn't need. In some cases, people were sold plans even though they lived in areas of our country where Optus services weren't available. This is unconscionable, and the consumer watchdog sued the telco in October over these practices, but it affected hundreds of vulnerable customers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that 'many of the affected consumers were vulnerable or experiencing disadvantage', including living with a disability, being unemployed or having English as a second language. As we know from the news, many of those consumers were First Nations Australians from regional, remote and very remote parts of Australia. In one instance, we heard that a First Nations consumer who spoke English as a second language was approached by Optus staff outside a store and pressured to enter into a contract. They then entered into multiple phone plans and contracts for products including high-end phones, the ACCC said, for a total minimum cost of $3,800 or more over a 24-month period. This person didn't even have Optus coverage at their home address and was later pursued by debt collectors. Can you imagine how much anxiety would be associated with being in that position?

I've also heard stories from families in my electorate, families in suburbs like Newmarket and Ashgrove, who waited weeks to have a simple service issue resolved—some related to ongoing intermittent services—and who couldn't get a straight answer from their provider. For a small business, we know that weeks without internet or EFTPOS, or even with intermittent service, is not an inconvenience. It means loss of income. It means potentially lost jobs. This bill recognises that reality. It lifts the penalties 40-fold, from $250,000 to nearly $10 million, and it modernises the framework so that the courts can impose fines that actually bite and will hurt these companies that do the wrong thing. These can be $10 million, three times the benefit obtained from the breach or up to 30 per cent of turnover. What this means is that the penalties will match the scale of the harm done and match the size of the company that's doing it, because consumers in Brisbane and across Australia should never again be left thinking that telcos treat penalties as just a cost of doing business.

Another major reform in the bill is making telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable. At present, compliance with industry codes is technically voluntary. If a provider breaches the code, the ACMA can only issue a warning or direct a company to comply. Real enforcement only comes if the company continues to break the rules. This means companies get away with egregious breaches for far too long while consumers get left in the lurch and get hurt. This bill ends that nonsense. With these reforms, ACMA will be able to take direct enforcement action straightaway. For families or individuals in suburbs like Stafford, Alderley or Kelvin Grove, this means stronger assurance that their provider will treat them fairly, not after three warnings, not after months of back and forth, but from the outset. This bill establishes a carriage service provider registration scheme. A carriage service provider is simply any company that uses carrier facilities to supply phone or internet services to you, me, and others—think Optus, Telstra and Vodafone, just to name three biggies. Right now, there is no comprehensive list of exactly who these providers are. The consequence of that is it makes it harder for ACMA to engage with them, educate them, track misconduct or even remove dodgy operators who cause the most harm.

We know that scams and fraudulent operators thrive in the shadows. Without transparency, consumers in Brisbane and across the country can be targeted by providers who appear legitimate but are anything but. It's only fair that consumers know exactly who they're dealing with, and this bill fixes that by creating the register. It increases visibility, increases accountability and gives ACMA the power, as a last resort, to exclude dangerous or dishonest providers from the market. We have seen similar powers work in the energy sector, where the regulator has been able to shut down unscrupulous retailers to quickly prevent harm. The same should apply here, because in Brisbane—whether you're a renter in Bowen Hills setting up your first internet account or a retiree in Red Hill looking for a cheaper phone plan—you should be able to trust that the provider you choose is honest and is playing by the rules.

These reforms did not just come out of nowhere. They build on a strong track record by the Albanese government of protecting consumers in telecommunications. Already we've introduced new industry standards requiring telcos to provide meaningful support to customers in financial hardship. We've brought in a new standard that compels telcos to support people experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence. We've amended the Competition and Consumer Act so that telcos, alongside banks, digital platforms and others, must actively work to prevent, detect and disrupt scams.

I want to stop on that last point because scams are a growing issue not just in Brisbane but around the country. Late last year, I spoke with David, who is part of one of our local Neighbourhood Watch groups, and he shared a story with me where a pensioner from his area had nearly thousands of dollars drained from his account after a sophisticated phishing scam that was linked to a compromised mobile service. This government has acted decisively so that telecommunications companies can no longer shrug their shoulders. They must step up, they must detect scams and they must protect consumers. Through this bill, we are backing that expectation with serious enforcement teeth.

Scams are an economy-wide problem and we need an economy-wide response. That's why we've released the Scams Prevention Framework. The National Anti-Scam Centre has brought together the expertise of regulators, law enforcement and the industry to stop scammers reaching Australians. Their united efforts are working, with scam losses reported to Scamwatch falling by about 41 per cent over a 12-month period. The community also needs more tools to arm themselves against scammers. To tackle this, the government ran a campaign to improve community awareness of scams and to help Australians identify and report scams. But we still have more to do.

Consumer protection is only one part of the story. Connectivity itself remains a challenge, especially outside our capital cities. The Albanese government has invested heavily to change this, including our Mobile Black Spot Program and legislation to ensure mobile coverage for our rural and regional areas. Now, I know Brisbane's not classified as regional in the same way as Central Australia or the Pilbara; however, our city still feels the pain of poor connectivity, particularly on major highways and fringe suburbs. Anyone who's driven along the Bruce Highway, heading north out of Brisbane—thousands will do that this weekend—or out to Ipswich for a site inspection will know the frustration of dropping out of coverage. For commuters, for businesses transporting goods and for families on the road, these aren't minor inconveniences; these are actually safety issues. By investing in regional connectivity, we are not just helping rural communities; we are strengthening the arteries that connect Brisbane and other major cities to the rest of our nation.

These reforms aren't about punishing industry for the sake of it. They're actually about creating a level playing field and restoring trust. This is critical in today's world, where almost everything we do relies on connectivity, and where we have very large companies that provide the majority of necessary infrastructure and many small businesses that keep our communities humming.

Brisbane is a young, dynamic, growing city. Our electorate is full of students, families, startups and small businesses who expect and deserve telecommunications that are reliable and fair. When I speak with students from the various universities we have in Brisbane about the rising cost of living, they tell me that even a small disruption to internet access can mean they miss a lecture, they don't get to do their shift at work, they might get an assignment in late or they might fall behind. When I speak with small-business owners in Clayfield, they tell me that losing EFTPOS or online ordering for a few hours or even for a day can mean hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars lost. What does that translate to? A poorer economy and job losses.

That's why this bill matters. It says to the telcos, 'If you do the right thing, you have nothing to fear. But, if you breach the trust of Australians, if you exploit consumers, if you put profit before fairness, then you will face real consequences.' This bill is about fairness. It's about accountability and it's about trust. Australians should not have to wonder whether their telecommunications provider is cutting corners or gaming the system for their benefit not the consumer's. They should know that, if the rules are broken, action will be swift, penalties will be serious and consumers will be protected and compensated.

The Albanese government is committed to keeping Australians connected no matter where they live, no matter their circumstances, and with this bill we are ensuring that the regulator is empowered, that industry codes are enforceable and that dodgy providers can be identified and can no longer slip through the cracks. It's about making sure consumers are protected and that there is trust in our telecommunications system. It's about delivering a telecommunications system that supports our families, our businesses and our communities. I commend the bill to the House.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was a day when telecommunications was considered a luxury. Certainly, in the modern world, it is an essential service. Indeed, it underpins everything we do—from the lives we live to the work we do, what we learn and how we engage with each other. That gives rise, of course, to the importance of consumer protections.

When it comes to the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 that is before the House today, it's noteworthy that this bill will create a register of carriage service providers, enable the direct enforcement of industry codes, amend the existing two-step process for the application of penalty amounts for infringement notices and increase the maximum penalty amount for breaches of the codes from $250,000 to $10 million. Given the bill strengthens consumer protections, streamlines enforcement and provides greater visibility of operators in the market, it will receive support from the coalition.

The new carriage service provider registration scheme will ensure that all telecommunication providers apply to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for registration to operate in Australia. This will provide the ACMA, as the regulator for the sector, with visibility of all operators in the Australian market, of which there are estimated to be 1,500. This will ensure ACMA is able to educate, monitor and, where necessary, take swift enforcement action for breaches of any codes or standards. Should providers breach their obligations or pose a risk to consumers, ACMA will have the ability to cancel their registration to operate. These arrangements are similar to those in the energy sector, where the Australian Energy Regulator, the AER, has the power to exclude operators from the market where there is a risk to consumers.

As part of the scheme, providers will also be required to report all cybersecurity incidents. Where there is a cyber breach, the appropriate bodies must be notified and remedial action must be taken and taken swiftly. Full visibility of all telecommunications operators will also ensure ACMA can target compliance and enforcement activities and, where necessary, take appropriate action.

Schedule 2 of the bill amends the Telecommunications Act to make registered industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA. The telecommunications industry has a co-regulation model by which industry is responsible for the preparation of codes, which are then submitted to ACMA for registration. Once a code is registered with ACMA in force, the code must be complied with by the sector.

In practice, what has been established under the act is a two-step enforcement process. If there is a complaint or wrongdoing, or a breach of industry code, ACMA will direct or provide a provider to comply. They will send that direction to the provider, essentially issuing a warning for them to correct their behaviour and do the right thing. Should they not, ACMA's enforcement powers will then become available. This enforcement action can include penalties through the Federal Court, enforceable undertakings or the issuing of an infringement notice.

Currently, part 6 of the act says:

Compliance with an industry code is voluntary unless the ACMA directs a particular participant in the telecommunications industry … to comply with the code.

This phrasing has led to a misconception that compliance with industry codes is voluntary. As the explanatory memorandum to the bill states, while code compliance is technically voluntary, after ACMA issues a direction to comply or a formal warning to a provider, it can then take enforcement action if the provider continues the noncompliance.

Since January 2024, ACMA has issued 19 formal warnings, one remedial direction, 16 directions to comply, four enforceable undertakings and infringement notices totalling close to $16 million. Some of these breaches relate to people's safety, which is of the highest priority. For example, there were seven notices issued to providers in 2024 for breaches of the emergency call database rules. These rules require the telco providers to keep a person's telephone number and address updated so that, when the number calls triple zero, emergency services—police, fire or ambulance—are deployed to the correct address at the first moment. Adherence to this code is vital. People's lives quite literally depend on it.

The requirement to monitor and report suspected scams is another important one. If telcos aren't adhering to the code, the impact on people, financially, psychologically and emotionally, is significant. In 2024, phone scam had the highest overall losses of scam types, with more than $107 million lost by nearly 2,200 people. Since the start of 2024, ACMA has issued 10 directions to comply with reducing scam calls and SMS code, but none of these resulted in a financial penalty to providers, because of the two-step process.

The changes in this bill will strengthen ACMA's powers and the speed at which they can use them, to provide even greater protection for consumers and ensure we have responsible operators in our telecommunications sector. The bill will make compliance with industry codes mandatory, removing the requirement for a two-step process before ACMA can take enforcement action. There'll be no more warning shots, ensuring more immediate action can be taken for breaches of the code. I will note, given much scrutiny of the telecommunications sector over recent years, that this is a change the sector itself has called for. Notably, the Australian Telecommunications Alliance, which represents the telecommunications industry, has been calling for these reforms since 2023.

Finally, the bill will increase penalties issued to providers for breaches of industry codes and standards from $250,000 to $10 million. The revised penalty framework will allow penalties to be based on the value of the benefit obtained from the breach of conduct or the turnover of the provider, allowing for penalties greater than $10 million should it be deemed appropriate.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have long advocated for civil penalty reform to ensure penalties for breaches of codes and standards reflect the severity of the breach and the harm caused. The increase in penalties will address this and align the telecommunications penalty framework to those in the energy and banking sectors, competition legislation and Australian consumer law. Thus, the coalition will support the bill. At the end of the day, it will strengthen consumer protection, streamline enforcement activity and provide greater visibility of operators in the market.

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

I rise to speak in support of the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill. Every Australian deserves reliable, quality and affordable telecommunications no matter where they live. In 2026, connectivity is not just a nice-to-have. It's not a luxury. It's a necessity. In this day and age, we rely on communications for basic daily activities, like using a credit card or checking the news. Many of us rely on telecommunications to work, to get an education and to stay in touch with our loved ones. In rural and regional areas, many Australians even rely on telecommunications to see a doctor through telehealth. In 2026, a quality, reliable telecommunications service should be a given, and yet it isn't. That is unacceptable, and that's why we've brought forward this bill. This is yet another part of a bigger picture of bringing all telcos up to standard.

Poor connectivity is one of the most pressing issues faced by constituents of my electorate. Gorton is one of the fastest-growing electorates in the country. In fact, we have the area with the fastest growth rate in the country in Fraser Rise and Plumpton. In the matter of a decade, dozens of new estates have popped up and whole new communities have been established. These are beautiful communities filled with young families and new migrants who want to feel connected, supported and proud of the place they live. They believe in the west and they're committed to making these suburbs the best places to call home.

But, while my constituents are investing in Melbourne's outerwest, the infrastructure they depend on simply hasn't matched, meaning that in peri-urban suburbs in my electorate—namely, in the Mount Atkinson area—residents are lucky to have one or two bars of service. This is a huge issue for residents of Mount Atkinson, many of whom work online, who have family overseas they need to contact or who need the peace of mind that they can call their child on the bus to school. But, most pressingly, the poor quality of their telecommunications services has interfered with their ability to call emergency services. It's truly unacceptable that in a country like Australia, where we have some of the highest living standards in the world, there are communities that cannot reliably call triple zero in an emergency.

Making matters even worse, some areas in my electorate still don't have the NBN infrastructure at all. In others, developers have engaged alternative broadband providers that often fail to meet minimum expectations for speed, data and reliability. When the fixed line service isn't strong, families end up relying heavily on mobile towers just to get basic connectivity. Those towers are lifelines. When the towers are not there or the service they provide is not quality or reliable, these communities suffer greatly.

I am passionate about making sure this situation improves as quickly as possible. I'm proud to say that, through round 2 of the Peri-Urban Mobile Program, the Albanese government is funding new mobile towers in my electorate and high-growth outermetro communities. I'm also proud to be supporting this amendment, which better regulates telcos to make sure they are accountable for providing quality, reliable telecommunications services to every Australian.

But I know there's still more to do, and that's why I'll keep advocating for the constituents in my electorate to get the connectivity they need as quickly as possible. Right now, I'm proud to be launching a mobile connectivity survey in my electorate so we can work with the community to gather their data on mobile black spots. We intend to use this data to engage with stakeholders so that we can address this issue. I know how important this issue is to my community, and I'll keep working until it's resolved.

Telecommunications is essential to the lives of every Australian. In 2026, the importance of quality, reliable, affordable telecommunications services really can't be understated. The amendment before us is about recognising the importance of telecommunications services as essential services and treating them as such, holding telcos accountable for providing good services to every Australian, giving our telecommunications regulator the tools it needs to crack down on telcos that are not meeting this standard and making sure the industry is transparent so that we can oversee and regulate the conduct of every provider.

As the member for Gorton, I'm incredibly passionate about making sure that, when it comes to telecommunications, no-one is held back and no-one is left behind. Seeking to better regulate the telecommunications industry when it comes to essential infrastructure and services like telecommunications is incredibly important. The telecommunications amendment is part of a broader piece of work this government is doing to put consumers back at the heart of the telecommunications industry. The truth is that, for some time now, not all telcos have been putting consumers first, and the results have been devastating.

In recent years, a number of network outages have seen consumers unable to make triple zero calls. The Optus network outage last September saw lives lost. The telcos involved did not have the proper systems in place to manage the network outages and minimise harm, and when these outages occurred they didn't fulfil their duty to keep consumers informed and ensure they were looked after while the systems were restored. These incidents are indicative of a broader issue to do with the lack of consideration for consumers shown by not all, but some, of the telco companies.

Some telcos have failed to provide adequate support and information to consumers experiencing financial hardship and vulnerability. They've taken liberties with customers, including breaching public safety rules by failing to upload their information to the integrated public number database used by emergency services. Just two months ago, Optus was ordered to pay $100 million in penalties for unconscionable conduct for putting undue pressure on vulnerable customers to buy products and then pursuing them for debts related to these purchases. That incidents like these are still happening in our country, and that some of our telco companies have not fulfilled their duty to ensure consumers are at the core of everything they do, is disgraceful, and this government will not stand for it.

The bill before us updates the Telecommunications Act 1997 to strengthen enforcement of and compliance with consumer safeguards. It does this in three ways. First, it increases the maximum civil penalties the Federal Court can issue for breaches of industry codes and standards by 40 times—from $250,000 to almost $10 million. Right now, the penalties are too low. They don't reflect the real harm caused when telcos fail to meet basic standards, and they don't deter companies from doing the wrong thing. The fact is that major telco providers can absorb a fine of $200,000 pretty easily, and, because of this, it hasn't been working as a deterrent for breaches of industry codes and standards. Under the bill before us, if a telco commits a serious breach—for example, if their triple zero service goes down and they haven't put proper failsafe systems in place to keep emergency calls flowing—the Federal Court can now issue a fine of up to $10 million.

In the most serious cases, the penalty can go even further. It can be set at three times the benefit the company gained from the breach or 30 per cent of the company's turnover, whichever number is higher. This means telcos won't be able to treat penalties as pocket change any more, and the punishment will finally fit the harm done. It also brings telecommunications in line with other major sectors that provide essential services to Australians, like energy and banking, where dodgy operators face real consequences when they fail the public. Telecommunications are essential services, and they need to be held to the same standard as other essential services.

Second, this bill delivers faster enforcement of industry codes. Right now, ACMA's hands are tied. Even when a telco commits a serious breach, ACMA cannot act straight away. It must first issue a formal direction to comply, then it has to wait and see whether the telco decides to comply or not. ACMA can only take real action if the company breaks the rules again. This process is slow and ineffective. It delays consequences for wrongdoing. The result is that Australians are left exposed while regulators jump through hoops. Families, businesses and communities affected by breaches are left waiting for providers to be penalised, while providers get yet another chance to fix something that should have never gone wrong in the first place.

The bill before us cuts through all of this, removing the two-step process entirely. Industry codes will now be directly enforceable. That means, if a provider breaches the rules, ACMA can act immediately—no delays, no waiting, no repeat failures before something happens. This empowers the regulator to protect Australians in real time. It makes sure complaints are taken seriously from the start.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. The member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.