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This week
IN THE NEWS: 2022 Election Policies Summary, Programs and Offers to Help You Stay Connected, and more.
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With a federal election looming, Australia’s major parties have each outlined their communications policies. ACCAN has compiled a summary of the Coalition (Liberal and the National parties), Labor, and the Australian Greens’ policies and priorities as voters begin heading to the polls. [ACCAN]
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Struggling with the cost of your internet or phone service? ACCAN has put together a list of telco offers to help targeted groups stay connected. [ACCAN]
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Australia’s largest telcos are pushing the federal government to replicate the news media bargaining code and force global digital giants such as Amazon and Facebook to compensate network owners for the pressure online streaming places on their infrastructure. [SMH]
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Australia has more than half a million retail small businesses that contribute to employment, gross domestic product, and the national economy. RMIT University have conducted a project under the ACCAN Grants Program to identify small retail businesses’ use of advanced digital services offered by telecommunications providers, and the issues and challenges small businesses face. Registrations for the project launch Friday 20th May are open now. [RMIT]
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Australia’s commercial television sector is asking the federal government to strengthen the news media bargaining code to avoid deals with Google and Facebook falling apart once they come up for renewal. The media bargaining code was legislated last year in an effort to force Google and Facebook to pay eligible large and small news publishers to display articles in the search engine and “newsfeed.” [SMH]
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An eight-day outage in the NSW town of Uralla exposed major vulnerabilities as a grassfire, medical emergency and business disruptions hit. Telstra had sent texts to mobile customers in Uralla the week prior, warning of possible service interruptions during upgrades. [The Guardian]
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The federal government has pledged to enshrine minimum cyber security standards for consumer-grade IoT devices in law, replacing the voluntary guidelines that have been in place since late 2020. But it has decided against introducing a “mandatory expiry date label” that displays the length of time that security updates will be provided to a smart device. [iTNews]
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An Albanese Labor Government will deliver a $29 million local news and community broadcasting transition package to help regional, local and community media providers from a decade of Liberal National mismanagement to a better future under Labor. Labor will support local news, community media and jobs while working to formulate a principles-based, evidence-informed and sustainable framework of measures to support public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia. [Michelle Rowland MP]
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The former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Rod Sims has used a speaking engagement in Canberra to re-emphasise the need to reign in the power of Big Tech firms. Speaking to InnovationAus.com Mr Sims said it’s not that he dislikes particular companies but is simply pointing out that Big Tech firms have “tremendous market power and they do engage in anti-competitive activity. I mean those are facts.” [InnovationAus]
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Software firm Thoughtworks has been drafted in to deliver Australia’s digital birth certificate, with the virtual credential expected to become available to those in NSW before the end of the year. [iTNews]
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Tel: (02) 9288 4000
Email: media@accan.org.au
Web: accan.org.au
Twitter: @accan_au
Facebook.com/accanau
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Although we take care to direct subscribers to sites with accurate and reliable content, we advise that ACCAN is not responsible for the content within external sites and has no control over the views, services or information contained therein. Information contained on external sites may not necessarily reflect ACCAN's policy, standards or beliefs.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network's representation of residential and other consumers' interests in relation to telecommunications issues is made possible by funding provided by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This funding is recovered from charges on telecommunications carriers.
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