Submissions


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NBN Co is consulting on options to change its wholesale prices to lift the demand for its broadband services, and on options for managing network usage to make services more attractive for retailers and consumers. Unusually, NBN Co has published its consultation paper, a move supported by ACCAN.

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The Department of Home Affairs has been undertaking consultation around the development of Australia’s next Cyber Security Strategy. The current Cyber Security Strategy was written in 2016 and set goals to be completed over four years.

ACCAN has responded to the Department of Home Affairs’ discussion paper, to ensure that the experiences of consumers, including small businesses, are reflected in the 2020 Cyber Security Strategy. In our submission we focused on consumer concerns about cyber security, including the impact that cybercrimes have on consumers, including small businesses; the information asymmetry that can exist between consumers and manufacturers; and the threats to consumer privacy that can occur due to cyberattacks or insecure connected devices.

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The Department of the Treasury, as one of the agencies involved in the implementation of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime, recently appointed Maddocks lawyers to conduct an independent privacy impact assessment regarding the initial implementation of the CDR. Maddocks has completed their draft privacy impact assessment report and requested stakeholder feedback on this draft.

Given that the CDR regime will be extended to the telecommunications sector, after first being implemented in the banking and energy sectors, ACCAN has been engaging with issues relating to the CDR and its implementation. This includes a short response to Maddocks’ draft privacy impact assessment.

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ACCAN has made a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Mobile Terminating Access Service (MTAS) inquiry, about the ACCC’s Final Access Determination (FAD) on price and non-price terms.

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Treasury’s consultation about the implementation of the recommendations of the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report. The Final Report provided recommendations to:

  • Promote competition among the services offered by digital platforms;
  • Enhance privacy protections for consumers;
  • Provide for a dedicated external dispute resolution body for consumers seeking to make a complaint about digital platforms; and
  • Prohibit certain unfair trading practices and terms currently faced by consumers.

ACCAN strongly supports the contents of the final report and our submission outlines how we believe that the recommendations can be progressed over the coming months.

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The Regional Connectivity Program is part of the Government’s $220 million Stronger Regional Digital Connectivity Package. It was announced in the Government’s response to the 2018 Regional Telecommunications Review.

The Regional Connectivity Program will complement the NBN, the Mobile Black Spot Program and commercial investment plans of telco providers. The $60 million funding of the Regional Connectivity Program includes:

  • A competitive grants program
  • A digital technology hub
  • Alternative voice service trials in remote areas
  • Further development of the Universal Service Guarantee

The Department of Communications and the Arts is consulting on the application framework for grants to build communications infrastructure in rural, regional and remote communities.

This consultation focused on the design of the competitive grants program.

ACCAN wrote a submission supporting the Department’s approach and made a number of additional suggestions in order to ensure the program provides money to the communities that most need it.

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‘Standards Australia is reviewing the ways in which it distributes and licenses its standards. Standards are documents that set a benchmark for how something should be done or made by an individual, company, or industry. They can be adopted into regulation or legislation. Standards Australia has been investigating how to license and distribute standards in a way that delivers:

  • Greater reach for Standards Australia’s content,
  • Better awareness and use of standards,
  • Financial sustainability.

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has conducted a second-round of consultation on the Emergency Call Service (ECS) Determination. A draft ECS Determination 2019 was provided for comment, in which a number of changes have been made based on the results of the first consultation process (completed in November 2018). It also outlines options for a trial of alternative call handling methods for SIM-less calls to the ECS.

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The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) is investigating options for internal reform in the wake of recommendations from the Consumer Safeguards Review Part A: Complaints handling and consumer redress. The first part of this investigation relates to possible changes to the TIO Constitution to reform the structure and selection of its Board. ACCAN’s response to the TIO Option Paper proposed a number of changes to enhance the independence of the TIO Board and strengthen the consumer perspective in Board matters.

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The peak body for the telecommunications industry, Communications Alliance, has conducted a preliminary consultation on a Draft Industry Guidance Note about appointment of Authorised Representatives and Advocates. Authorised representatives are usually lawyers, financial counsellors or family members of customers who need assistance managing their telco affairs.

The Draft Guidance Note provides recommendations about how telcos should go about authorising representatives who act on behalf customers.

Communications Alliance will be consulting further on the Guidance Note in September 2019.

In our written feedback, ACCAN proposed that substantial adjustments be made to improve the efficiency and fairness of the authorisation process.

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ACCAN has made some submissions to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) regarding caption exemption draft orders for Fetch TV, Foxtel Cable Television, Optus Vision Media, Selectra and Telstra Pay TV.

In our submissions we urged the ACMA to deny the exemption applications, as Australians who rely on closed captions should be ensured the same functional access to television services as other Australians. We continue to call for equitable access to video programming, including subscription television services, for people who are Deaf or have hearing impairment.

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The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science undertook a public consultation on Australia’s Ethics Framework in relation to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

ACCAN made a brief submission to this consultation. We outlined that consumer safeguards must be put in place to protect consumers from any unintended outcomes of new technology such as AI. We stated that compliance and enforcement procedures in relation to the ethical use of AI are necessary to protect consumers, as existing human rights, legislative and regulatory frameworks alone cannot completely protect consumers against unethical behaviour.