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ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Treasury’s Pre-Budget consultation to provide our views on priorities for the 2024-2025 Australian Budget. Our submission calls on the Federal Government to address the barriers faced by consumers in accessing affordable, quality, and reliable telecommunications by:

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Social Services consultation on the Australian Government response to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

The 222 recommendations provided in the Disability Royal Commission (DRC) are a significant opportunity for Australia to create impactful, lasting, and positive change across a variety of critical areas for people with disability, including access to communications products and services.

ACCAN recommends that the government response to the DRC should include:

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts' Discussion Paper: Carriage Service Provider (CSP) registration or licensing scheme for the telecommunications industry.  

ACCAN supports the creation of a registration or licensing scheme (RoLS) for the telecommunications market. A RoLS represents an important component to ensure the telecommunications market works efficiently for all participants. An RoLS would: 

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ACCAN recently submitted to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts' consultation on extending telecommunications security reform instruments.

ACCAN supports extending the Telecommunications (Carrier License Conditions—Security Information) Declaration 2022 and the Telecommunications (Carriage Service Provider—Security Information) Determination 2022 for 18 months while the Australian Government consults on longer term telecommunications security arrangements.

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) was delighted to host the 2023 Sue Salthouse Memorial Lecture on 5th December 2023.

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We strongly encourage prospective applicants to phone or email ACCAN's grants team to discuss your project idea. Remember, applications are assessed independently, so we are able to help you develop your idea and hone it appropriately for the ACCAN Program. We're also available for any other questions you might have about ACCAN Grants.

Phone: 02 9288 4000

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Or via the National Relay Service

 

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Rural Telecommunications Tower

The Australian Government is currently reviewing the future of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) beyond 2024. This blog post aims to answer some of the general questions consumers may have about this important consumer protection.

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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:

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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.

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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:

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The Board of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) today announces that, for personal reasons, ACCAN’s CEO Andrew Williams, will leave the organisation in February 2024.

Professor Julian Thomas, ACCAN’s Chairperson said, “Andrew has been with ACCAN for nearly five years, firstly as our Director of Operations and as our CEO for the last two years.  During this time he has led the organisation through a period of significant transition and on behalf of the Board I thank him very much for his contributions. 

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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:

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