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This week
IN THE NEWS: Registrations open for Sue Salthouse Memorial Lecture, ACCAN CEO to depart in 2024 and Optus to face hostile Senate on Friday
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The Board of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network recently announced that, for personal reasons, ACCAN’s CEO Andrew Williams, will leave the organisation in February 2024. ACCAN Chairperson Prof. Julian Thomas praised Andrew for his leadership of the organisation through a period of significant transition, and on behalf of the Board thanked him very much for his contributions. Read more via our media release above. [ACCAN]
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ACCAN is delighted to again host the 2023 Sue Salthouse Memorial Lecture. This year's keynote address will be delivered by Emma Bennison, Chief Innovation Officer at Life Without Barriers. The event honours Sue Salthouse and her unfailing commitment to disability advocacy and human rights, celebrating the huge contributions she made to improving the accessibility of telecommunications for people with disability in Australia. This event will provide Auslan interpretation and Closed Captions. [ACCAN, via Humanitix]
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On Friday 17th key Optus executives including CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin will face a snap Senate inquiry into last Wednesday’s critical outage that impacted millions of Australians. The inquiry will be chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, and is one of several investigations into the matter. ACCAN intends to lodge a submission to the inquiry, which is due to report on December 9th. [The Guardian]
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The government has announced an extension of the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) until the end of 2025, delivering $4.3 million to NBN Co to continue providing free home broadband to students who would otherwise be without internet. The SSBI is assisting up to 30,000 eligible families, who can now self-nominate for the program. [Minister Rowland]
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The attempt by Optus to keep strictly internal the Deloitte report commissioned after the 2022 cyber-attack is invalid, the Federal Court has ruled. Optus claimed the document fell under ‘legal professional privilege’, and thus could not be read or used by the plaintiffs of the class action occurring on behalf of customers affected by the incident. The court found otherwise, and plaintiffs now have access to the report. [The Guardian]
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The next round of the ACCAN Independent Grants Program is set to open in late January 2024 and close at the end of February. We encourage all interested applicants to get in touch with project ideas at grants@accan.org.au and receive feedback before applying. Further information will be provided via the ACCAN website, social media channels and email communications. [ACCAN]
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Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil has stated that she will move to include telcos in the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act legislation which aims to ensure companies properly protect the cyber security and data of Australians. Under the Act, regular reporting by companies to government on security practices is required. [ITNews]
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The TIO has released complaints data for the July – September quarter which shows a 10.6% reduction in complaints on the previous period. The Ombudsman pointed out that there remained much to do around poor customer service, providing clear and accurate bills and delivering on promises to customers. [Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman]
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Twitter/X has failed to pay a $610,000 fine leveled against it by the eSafety Commissioner in October. They were penalised for failing to respond to a legal notice demanding the disclosure of internal processes to deal with illegal material and given 28 days to make payment. The Guardian suggests that the Commissioner may now seek federal court civil penalties, which could lead to daily fines of up to $782,000, backdated to February 2023. [News.com]
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The Minister for Communications has announced that Telstra payphones, which currently offer free domestic calls, will soon display information stickers of 6 national support services including 1800RESPECT, Lifeline and Kids Helpline. The hope is that vulnerable Australians will have free access via the payphones for support when they need it. [Minister Rowland]
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If you are Deaf, or have a hearing impairment or speech impairment, you can contact us on 02 9288 4000 through your preferred National Relay Service call number or access point.
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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 information contained in or attached to this message is intended only for the people it is addressed to. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this information is unauthorised and prohibited. This information may be confidential or subject to legal privilege. If you receive this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the e-mail and any attachments. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network does not warrant that the information in this e-mail or any attachments are free from any viruses, defects, errors, interception or interference.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network's representation of residential and other consumers' interests in relation to telecommunications issues is supported by the Commonwealth through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.
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