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ACCAN recently submitted to Communications Alliance’s scheduled review on C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Industry Code.

ACCAN endorses the Code as drafted and supports reconfirming the Code, which sets out the technical procedures for involving communities in the planning, installing, and operation of mobile phone base stations.

ACCAN recently made a submission to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts’ 2022 Review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002 (the Transport Standards). This submission was developed in consultation with our members, including Deafness Forum of Australia and Blind Citizens Australia (BCA).

Additionally, ACCAN supported the recommendations made in BCA’s submission to the review of the Transport Standards. 

Deaf Australia

Since publication of the ‘What Standards?’ Auslan translation guidelines in 2015, the NDIS and pandemic have significantly reshaped Auslan user needs. This project will evaluate and update these guidelines by reviewing current usage and compliance across Australia, improving guidelines for Deafblind consumers, and incorporating emerging Auslan-first products, often viewed as a better alternative to translations. Ultimately, the findings will provide Auslan translation guidelines for current and foreseeable requirements, deeper consideration of Deafblind needs, and an understanding of when Auslan-first products should be produced instead of Auslan translations.

Center For Accessibility Australia

Consumers with disability have reported to the CFAA that there is a lack of adequate mobile plan cancellation options with support limited to text-based AI chatbots and no alternative phone, email, or TTY support. This project will evaluate the support and cancellation process of all Australian companies providing a mobile SIM and create consumer resources for disability groups. Telcos will be provided guidance to improve their support offerings and accessibility to consumers with disability.

The Center For Accessibility Australia did a similar project Telcos for all: Addressing Key Accessibility Issues Faced by Consumers on Telco Carrier Websites in 2020.

Griffith University

While cybersecurity self-help advice is readily available to consumers, most resources are focused on preventing unintended sharing of devices, passwords, accounts, and personal information. This advice is ill-suited to intimate relationship contexts where sharing is common. A lack of baseline knowledge about smartphone-sharing practices and the reasons behind them has hampered Australian efforts to strengthen consumer cybersecurity. This project will create a new evidence base to understand everyday consumer smartphone sharing in intimate relationships using a survey and interviews with diverse consumers, to improve privacy protections and cybersecurity for all Australians.

Western Sydney University

Indigenous people in Western Sydney are experiencing digital divide. This interdisciplinary project will co-design with an Indigenous scholar and will be overseen by an Indigenous Research Governance Committee. By building on established relationships with Indigenous residents in Western Sydney, the project will provide needed data on Indigenous digital exclusion in Western Sydney and will provide Indigenous co-designed recommendations for closing the digital gap.

Deakin University

This project will explore how communication is defined and implications for reforms to the laws of information privacy, telecommunications surveillance, and digital markets. The team will conduct focus groups with diverse communities to enhance consumer advocacy and representation in submissions to proposed reforms and improve consumer protections.

Digital Literacy Foundation

Working towards universal digital inclusion is critical. In partnership with local Council and community organisations, this project will operate locally-based, face-to-face digital mentoring services for people in the Hawkesbury region. Workshops will build on a successful pilot program focused on increasing consumers’ access to online information, communications products, and services.

With many services digitised, older Hawkesbury residents are increasingly isolated, as the region’s rivers, bushland, unsealed roads, and devastation following fires (2019) and multiple floods (2022) has reduced access to physical services. The Hawkesbury region has a higher proportion of 50 to 84-year-olds than Greater Sydney (Census 2021), a group which, according to the Australian Digital Inclusion Index, are more likely to experience digital exclusion. The program aims to improve access to communication channels with community, family and government, including telehealth, and provide opportunities for increased social connectedness, and participation in online social and economic activities.

South Australian Council on Intellectual Disability

People with intellectual disability are at greater risk to the dangers of the online environment. However, there is limited educational information presented in formats accessible to people with intellectual disability. This project will build on an existing co-designed introductory online safety workshop to develop a series of accessible training resources focused on online safety. A co-design approach will be used to develop, test and refine the products, and gather information about communications related barriers to inform future advocacy. 

Visit SACID's website.

Australia’s peak communications consumer advocacy group, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), has today announced 7 projects that it will fund through the 2023 Round of its Independent Grants Program.

The ACCAN Independent Grants Program funds consumer-focused projects to undertake research, represent consumers, and create educational tools which empower consumers to make decisions in their own interests.

The operation of ACCAN’s Independent Grant Program is made possible by funding provided by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997.

CommsDay Forum Speech – 14 June 2023

Andrew Williams – ACCAN CEO

 

Good afternoon everyone and thanks to Grahame and the Commsday team for the invitation to present to you today.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past, present, and emerging

It’s been a while since I’ve been up on stage at one of these events

As you no doubt are aware, there’s a lot going on in this space at the moment, so I thought I’d use this time to give you an update on some of the key issues as we see them.

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) consultation on the sunsetting of the Broadcasting Services (Television Captioning) Standard 2013.  This submission was developed in consultation with our members, including Deafness Forum of Australia, Deaf Australia and the Centre for Inclusive Design (CfID). ACCAN’s submission recommended:

  • That the Standard is redrafted with minor amendments to require broadcasters to address issues of latency and synchronicity in the captions used on their television programs.
  • That the redrafted Standard is implemented by the ACMA with stronger compliance and enforcement measures.
  • That the ACMA further investigates and provides information on the implementation of a metric model such as the Number, Edition error, Recognition error (NER) model.