Australian Communications Consumer Action Network held an afternoon seminar on 4 November, looking at responsive regulation and effective policy making, and how engagement with consumers can be enhanced to get better results. This forum looked beyond the current, sterile stand-off between consumers on one side and policy makers and regulators on the other to meeting each other’s needs.
Program
2:00pm Acknowledgement of Country and Introductory Comments by Allan Asher, CEO, ACCAN
Session 1: Understanding how regulators work
2:10pm Peter Kell Deputy Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission responding to a series of specific questions posed by ACCAN.
2:20pm Delia Rickard Australian Securities and Investments Commission responding to a series of specific questions posed by ACCAN.
2:30pm Chris Chapman, Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority responding to a series of specific questions posed by ACCAN.
2:40pm Conversation with the regulators, An interactive discussion between consumers and regulators moderated by Allan Asher.
3:30pm Short Break- Tea and coffee provided
Session 2: Evidence-based policy development
3:45pm Introduction to Session 2 Evidence based policy development by Allan Asher
3:50pm Robert Fitzgerald - Productivity Commission presentation on evidence based policy making in light of the productivity commission report on consumer protection in Australia.
4:10pm Abul Rizvi, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on Evidence Based Policy Making
4:20pm Interactive panel discussion led by moderator Allan Asher with a view to reaching a consensus on how consumer representatives can meet the threshold set by policy makers for action, featuring:
- Gerard Goggin (Professor of Digital Communication and Deputy Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre UNSW)
- Sue Salthouse (President of Women with Disabilities, ACCAN Board)
- Mark Armstrong (Director of Network Insight Institute)
5:00pm Networking drinks and refreshments
6:00pm End of Seminar
Download: Seminar_Program.pdf [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 107.63 KB]
Download: Seminar_Program.doc [Word Document - 52.5 KB]
Post-Event Materials
A full on-demand webstream of the event and segmented version on Youtube. You can no longer attend the event but you can catch all the action by following the links below:
The full transcript of the event is also available:
Download:
RBMA Transcript ACCAN Responsive Regulation and Policy Seminar.pdf
[Adobe Acrobat PDF - 271.11 KB]
Download:
RBMA Transcript ACCAN Responsive Regulation and Policy Seminar.doc
[Word Document - 200 KB]
Consumers are demanding more from policy makers and regulators while they are insisting on better evidence before action.