Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I thank members who contributed to consideration of the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. The significant reforms included in this bill will better equip the Australian Communications and Media Authority with the tools and powers it needs to protect telco consumers and hold providers to account. This bill is another way the Albanese government is putting consumers at the centre of the telco industry, recognising the importance of quality services for all Australians.

This bill establishes a carriage service provider registration scheme to increase visibility of providers operating in the market, especially telecommunications retailers. It will enable the ACMA to undertake more proactive education and compliance work with providers and ultimately empower the ACMA to stop them operating in the market where they have been found to pose unacceptable risk to consumers or have caused significant consumer harm.

This bill will make compliance with industry codes mandatory and directly enforceable. This will allow the ACMA to take direct and immediate enforcement action against telecommunications providers that have breached their obligations to customers. This bill will also increase maximum penalties for breaches of industry codes and standards under the act from $250,000 to approximately $10 million, bringing them in line with those for breaches of service provider determinations under the act. This will also better align telecommunications penalties with other sectors like energy and banking. Additional changes will allow for the courts to determine penalty amounts based on financial turnover of the provider and the scale of the breach, allowing for penalties in excess of $10 million in certain circumstances.

Reforms to infringement notices will clarify the application of the framework, enabling the government to increase penalty amounts for any breach where the ACMA can issue an infringement notice. This includes breaches of industry codes and standards relating to consumer protections. The reforms will also allow for the scaling of infringement notice penalties depending on the size of the provider—for example, larger penalties for larger providers and smaller penalties for smaller providers.

The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 is about delivering a stronger, better targeted and more equitable compliance and enforcement regime for the telecommunications sector. The Albanese government has listened to feedback from industry, regulators, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and consumer advocates to develop these reforms. Most importantly, we've listened to Australians. These reforms will ensure the right settings are in place to incentivise telecommunications service providers to comply with the law and provide quality services to consumers. They reflect the Albanese government's commitment to making sure Australians are appropriately protected and supported in their interactions with telecommunications service providers. I call on members to support the bill.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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