Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to commend the member for Macquarie, particularly for the last points of her contribution where she outlines some of the steps that this government has taken in less than a term to fix up the mess that was left behind for us, particularly in protecting consumer rights. In this first term of the Albanese Labor government, we've taken action on payday lenders to make them operate in a much fairer way to protect consumers. We have regulated buy-now pay-later and made it a credit product when it wasn't. We're taking action on debit card surcharges and working with the RBA to ensure that Australians don't get pinged for using digital payments, particularly when it's their own money. The action on scams led by the Assistant Treasurer is world-leading stuff.

This is stuff that good governments should prioritise, not new governments when they come in to clean up the mess. This is about good, ongoing governance. Time and time again, across portfolio after portfolio, you see that the former government really dropped the ball, particularly in the latter end of their time in government. All these issues existed and were around for a long time. They had been brought to the attention of the Morrison government, the Turnbull government and the Abbott government before that, and they weren't being addressed. They were not being addressed.

In our first term in government, we've done plenty of that because that is what Labor governments do—we listen and we reform. And that's what today's Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 is about. It's about protecting consumers, it's about listening to Australians who have had some really horrible experiences with some telecommunications providers, and it's about ensuring that there's a minimum standard for consumers for an essential service, because, in 2025, remaining connected is essential. It's essential for how we live, for how we work and for how we participate in society. As such, it's only fair that Australians should rely on our telecommunications sector to serve them and not to continually short-change them. That's what this bill is about. It's about shifting power back to the people and it's about ensuring that those who keep us connected are held to better standards of responsibility and care. It's about modernising our laws so that rules protect every Australian and that these big companies are held to account.

For too long, some telecommunications providers—not all of them but some of them—have treated compliance like an optional extra. For too long, penalties for doing the wrong thing were so light that they could have simply been factored in as a cost of doing business rather than act as a disincentive. This amendment ends that. It marks a line in the sand by giving consumers the stronger protections that they deserve, and it gives the regulator in charge of compliance here, ACMA—the Australian Communications and Media Authority—the teeth it needs to bite back and to take action when things inevitably go wrong.

One of the most significant changes in this legislation is a shift in how these consumer protections are enforced. Until now, if a telco breached its obligations under the industry code, ACMA had to jump through hoops and go through a number of steps to get it rectified. Step 1 was to issue a formal direction to comply, step 2 was to wait and hope that the company listened, and step 3 was to take further action, but only if they failed again. It was delayed justice that disempowered the regulators and, all in all, it left consumers waiting for justice. This bill fixes that. It empowers ACMA to act immediately and decisively when there's an alleged breach, and, if providers breach the rules, they will know they will face the consequences swiftly and appropriately. It doesn't just help regulators; it helps consumers, who expect their complaints to be taken seriously. It helps the honest providers out there who do the right thing, because they're tired of being undercut by some in the industry who don't do the right thing. It helps build a stronger and fairer telecommunications sector for everyone.

These reforms are a response to repeated, well-documented failures in the telecommunications industry—failures that leave our customers frustrated, financially hurt and, in many cases, really vulnerable. Just last year we saw the ACCC commence proceedings against a major telecommunications provider in Australia for engaging in unconscionable conduct in convention of the law. It was reported that sales staff signed people up to multiple postpaid mobile plans they didn't want, couldn't afford and, in some cases, didn't even understand due to language barriers. The consequences were that families and consumers suffered and racked up thousands of dollars in debt for services they didn't consent to and customers were left confused, disempowered and unable to access basic remedies.

This legislation also tackles other forms of poor behaviour that have become too common—for example, ongoing billing for cancelled services, failure to adequately assist people in financial hardship and those unresolved complaints, which we've all been party to, that just drag on for weeks or sometimes months. These aren't just minor oversights; they're signs of an existing culture that doesn't put the consumer at the heart of some of the service providers, and this bill will change that.

Under this bill, if a provider continues to bill customers for services they never receive and, say, gains a $1 million benefit, we propose to increase the fine so that they have to pay $3 million, three times more than what their benefit is, a true disincentive to continually making these poor decisions. That's because we're cracking down on enforcement and introducing these tougher fines. Penalties can now reach up to $10 million or three times the benefit gained or 30 per cent of the company's turnover, whichever is greater. That's a message to these providers: treat your customers fairly or you will be held to account. It means that big telcos won't be able to shrug off these smaller penalties, which are only in the hundreds of thousands of dollars currently, as pocket change. It means that the punishment will fit the crime. And it means that we are aligning telco penalties with those in other major sectors, other essential service provisions, like energy and banking, and other consumer law protections. Telecommunications, as I've said and as other speakers have said, are essential services, and they need to be held to the same level as other essential services.

Another crucial reform in this bill is the establishment of a new carriage service provider registration scheme. This is about transparency and visibility. It's about empowering the ACMA to act before the harm is done, not in response to complaints or breaches. Right now, there is limited oversight over who operates in the telecommunications space. That makes it harder for regulators to spots risks before they become major problems. Under the new scheme, every carriage service provider must register with the ACMA. That means the regulator will know exactly who is operating in the market. It also means that, if a provider is found to pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or if it has repeatedly caused significant harm, it can just be stopped from operating altogether—not fined or not warned but stopped. This is vital in a sector where some small operators may try to fly under the radar, avoid scrutiny, take advantage of their customers and target vulnerable customers. A shady provider with no track record, no safeguards, no accountability should not be allowed to play with such an essential service and people's livelihoods. The registration scheme gives us transparency but also gives the regulator the power to say no and to get on top of these issues early.

We're also expanding and clarifying the authority to increase the infringement notice penalties. The current provisions are a bit messy and need to be cleaned up. In some cases they don't even allow for the minister to increase penalties for more important obligations. This bill cleans that up as well. It gives the government the ability to respond to changing market conditions, consumer needs and emerging risks with clarity and consistency. Our regulators need to have that flexibility because they shouldn't have to operate with one hand tied behind their backs. All our regulators should have a full suite of modern and flexible enforcement tools, and that's what this bill seeks to do in the telecommunications industry.

As with all our reforms, we take them seriously and we've consulted widely. We've listened carefully, and the support for this bill is broad and deep. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network supports the bill. The Consumer Action Law Centre supports the bill. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and Australian Communications and Media Authority support it as well. The Communications Alliance, which is the peak body for the telco industry, supports it too. That's telling; it's telling that they do. It tells me and it tells the public that this reform is measured but that it's also necessary. It balances the feedback received from industry but also the really important feedback of consumer advocacy groups and consumers. It lifts the standard for everyone.

This bill, obviously, is not about punishing the entire sector. It's about weeding out the worst offenders, incentivising compliance across the sector and building a telecommunications environment that works for all Australians, both in the city and in the bush. It builds on the growing legacy of telco reform from this government. We've implemented new rules to support customers experiencing financial hardship. We've directed the ACMA to create new protections for those experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence, because your safety should never depend on your phone plan. Now we're delivering a comprehensive package to reform how we enforce consumer protections and hold providers to account.

This is the culmination of a very careful review of active stakeholder engagement and of decisive leadership. I pay credit to the minister, who has done an extraordinary amount of work in one term to reform these really important parts of her portfolio. We don't just talk about putting consumers first or at the forefront of our reforms; we legislate it too. This legislation is for every Australian that is connected by their phone or tablet. It's for a single mum in Gladesville trying to contact Centrelink or a small-business owner in Lane Cove who needs to be online all the time. It's for the elderly couple in Eastwood who need to use telehealth for their care. It's for every worker, parent and grandparent who relies on their phone or internet connection to stay informed, stay connected and engage in modern society. It's for people who cannot afford for the system to break down or can't afford for their complaints not to be dealt with. It's for the people who don't have the hours to sit on the phone on hold and fight long battles with telecommunication companies who sometimes don't do the best by their consumers. It's for people who just want a fair deal and decent service. This is another step in putting consumers at the heart of regulation that we do, and I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.

See this speech in context