Submissions


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ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) consultation on the Proposed Telecommunications Financial Hardship Industry Standard (the draft standard).

ACCAN considers that the development of the financial hardship standard is a critical improvement in consumer protections for telecommunications consumers. ACCAN acknowledges and welcomes the actions by the Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland and the ACMA to progress the development of these protections.

ACCAN is supportive of the contents of the draft standard. We are pleased to see that it:

ACCAN recently provided a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications on the Optus Network Outage (the Outage) occurring on 8 November.

As with all mass outage events, the Outage on Wednesday 8 November caused significant disruption across Australia. It inconvenienced customers, closed businesses, and disrupted access to essential services. In ACCAN’s view the Outage highlighted systemic issues that require renewed attention.

While there is significant policy work underway to address network reliability issues, the Outage raises the question of what reliability settings are appropriate, in an environment of widespread uptake of and reliance on connectivity. Answering this question requires consideration of the social and economic costs of disconnection, which should inform policy decisions with respect to reliability frameworks.

ACCAN recently commented on the C555:2023 Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) Industry Code.

The IPND provides an important public asset for emergency calls, emergency warnings and law enforcement.

ACCAN is pleased to see that the revised code provides:

ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the Department) consultation on possible amendments to the Telecommunications in New Developments Policy – Mobile Connectivity and Other Measures. ACCAN supports the proposed changes, and we further recommend the Department:

ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Social Services (the Department) on the National Housing and Homelessness Plan (the Plan). ACCAN recommended that the Plan consider digital inclusion to facilitate the active and equal participation of people experiencing housing precarity and suggested the Department:

ACCAN recently submitted to the ACCC 2023 Strategic Review – Compliance and Enforcement Priorities 2023-24. ACCAN supports the ACCC maintaining the following priorities into 2024-2025:

ACCAN recently provided comments on Communications Alliance’s Draft G651:2023 Customer Authorisation Industry Guideline (the Draft Guideline). ACCAN welcomes the efforts of Communications Alliance to incorporate previous ACCAN feedback into the Draft Guideline. ACCAN’s submission also identifies gaps in the Draft Guideline that limit equitable access to a Customer Authorisation for Customers with disability.

ACCAN recently submitted to the Senate Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience (the Committee). In response to the impacts that natural disasters may have on telecommunications consumers in regional, rural, and remote areas, ACCAN believes the Committee should consider: 

ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) in response to NBN Co’s latest proposed Special Access Undertaking (SAU) in August 2023.

ACCAN expresses our qualified support for the latest SAU variation, noting:

ACCAN recently submitted to the ACCC’s consultation on the Environmental and sustainability claims - Draft guidance for business (the Draft Guidance).

ACCAN supports:

ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the Department) consultation on possible amendments to pit and pipe exemption criteria. ACCAN supports, in part, the proposed changes, and we further recommended that the Department:

ACCAN has recently (Aug 2023), provided feedback on the Government’s Draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill.

The Bill provides the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with reserve powers to ensure that digital platform services are working to protect Australians against harm from online mis and disinformation.