Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memoranda and I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

COMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (DEREGULATION AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2015

This Government remains committed to removing outdated regulation that represents an unnecessary drag on the economy and may, in fact, hamper industry from providing more innovative and competitive, products and services to consumers.

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 is the latest in a series of measures introduced by the Government, and designed to increase productivity and reduce costs to the benefit of industry and consumers. The reform agenda requires continuous commitment, as small improvements over time provide a cumulative benefit. To date, this Government's efforts have resulted in the removal of over 3000 pages of redundant regulation and delivered over $300 million in estimated savings each year for industry and community stakeholders in the Communications sector.

As we all know, digital disruption is transforming Australia's broadcasting and communications landscape. New and converging technologies are making traditional regulatory frameworks either inefficient or even redundant. This bill addresses outdated regulatory requirements while preserving flexibility for the regulators to adapt to changing industry trends.

The bill includes measures to: streamline account-keeping and licence fee administration arrangements for commercial broadcasters and datacasting transmitter licensees; remove duplication for licensees, publishers and controllers who must notify the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) of changes in control of regulated media assets; implement a single classification scheme for all television programs, including films; and clarify the functions of the ACMA in investigating broadcasting complaints.

The bill will also reduce burden on the telecommunications industry by: removing the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) unduly burdensome tariff filing arrangements; reforming the statutory information collection powers of the ACMA and the ACCC to ensure that the information collected from industry remains necessary and relevant; and establishing a framework to enable the telecommunications industry to develop a scheme to self-manage telephone numbering resources subject to the satisfaction of the Minister .

The bill also makes various other amendments to remove redundant or otherwise unnecessary legislation.

Account keeping and licence fee administration arrangements

The bill will streamline account keeping and licence fee administration arrangements under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) for broadcasters and datacasters.

First, it will remove default audit requirements that apply to certain financial information provided by licensees to the ACMA at the end of the financial year as part of the regulator's revenue assurance regulatory task. Instead, a new provision will enable the ACMA to request the auditing of financial documents if the ACMA considers it necessary. In other words, the presumption is reversed from a default auditing requirement to a risk-based approach.

The ACMA already has the ability to exempt a class of licensees from these auditing requirements by legislative instrument and removing the default auditing requirement for all licensees will reduce the administrative burden on licensees.

The bill also provides greater flexibility to regulated organisations by widening the classes of officeholders who can make a statutory declaration about the gross earnings of certain commercial broadcasting and datacasting licensees. The eligible classes will be extended to include directors, as well as people authorised by the CEO/company secretary and with knowledge of the financial affairs of the licensee company. This measure reduces the regulatory burden on industry while still ensuring the ACMA can receive the information it needs.

The bill will also allow the ACMA to waive small licence fee underpayments where, in the ACMA's opinion, it would not be efficient to recover the amount unpaid.

Control notification

This bill will remove duplicative requirements for licensees, publishers and controllers to notify the ACMA of certain changes in control of regulated media assets, namely commercial television broadcasting licences, commercial radio broadcasting licences, datacasting transmitter licences and 'associated' newspapers.

The BSA currently requires licensees and publishers to notify the ACMA of changes in the control of a licence or publication. It also requires the incoming controllers to notify the ACMA of the same change. By removing the obligation on the incoming controller, the bill will reduce duplication and the administrative burden on affected parties while still allowing the ACMA to maintain accurate and up-to-date control registers.

Single classification scheme for television programmes

The bill will streamline film classification arrangements for commercial and community broadcasters and open narrowcasters under the BSA. This will be achieved by repealing requirements for licensees to use the film classification scheme in the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act1995 when broadcasting films, rather than the code-based television classification guidelines that apply to other television programmes.

These requirements were originally enacted to ensure consistency between classification ratings applied to films screened in theatre and/or released on DVD/VHS, and when those films are broadcast on television.

Since the enactment of those provisions, the film and television classification schemes have converged to the point where they are largely the same. Accordingly, the original policy intent for the provisions is now redundant. Duplicate classification rules in industry codes of practice and the Broadcasting Services act are inefficient for broadcasters, who must have regard to multiple classification frameworks for different kinds of content delivered over the same platform.

Repealing subsections 123(3A) to (3D), and related changes to licence conditions, will deliver a single classification scheme for all television programmes, including films.

ACMA complaints handling

The bill will also clarify the ACMA's complaints handling and information gathering powers under the BSA.

Part 11 of the BSA sets out a framework for making and investigating complaints about licensed and national broadcasters, including complaints relating to compliance with broadcasting codes of practice. In addition, Part 13 of the BSA provides the ACMA with a general power to conduct investigations relating to broadcasting, content and datacasting functions. Those functions include monitoring compliance with codes of practice and monitoring and investigating complaints concerning broadcasting services.

It is clear, therefore, that complaints of the type referred to in Part 11 can also be investigated by the ACMA under its broader investigation powers in Part 13 (section 170). This was recently confirmed by the Federal Court in Harbour Radio Pty Limited v Australian Communications and Media Authority [2015] FCA 371.

Accordingly, the bill will repeal Part 11, and make consequential amendments to Part 13 to make it clear that people may complain to the ACMA about broadcasting or datacasting services, and the ACMA may investigate the complaint at its discretion.

In recognition of the co-regulatory approach to broadcasting services, the amendments make clear that the ACMA may for example, choose to investigate a complaint where the complainant is dissatisfied with the broadcaster's response to their complaint, or where the broadcaster fails to respond to a complaint in a manner consistent with the requirements of the relevant industry code of practice.

Tariff filing

The Telecommunications Industry has changed dramatically since significant competition reforms were introduced in the 1990s following the Hilmer Competition Review, and since the privatisation of, then government-owned, Telstra.

Reporting requirements designed to ensure that those newly designed competition laws operated effectively have become less effective in aiding prevention of anticompetitive behaviour and disproportionately more burdensome as the telecommunications industry has changed.

The bill will repeal tariff filing arrangements applying to the telecommunications industry under Part XIB of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA). These provisions are no longer necessary as there is no evidence that the tariff information provided has assisted in preventing anti-competitive practices. Further, there is already sufficient pricing information available in the public domain.

Information collection

The bill will also reform the statutory information collection powers of the ACMA and the ACCC, which have been identified by industry stakeholders as an area of particular regulatory burden.

Section 105 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Tel Act) requires the ACMA to monitor and report to the Minister (and for the Minister to table the report in Parliament) each financial year on all significant matters related to the performance of the telecommunications industry. The ACMA obtains information from industry in preparing the report. Though initially providing a high degree of oversight as part of a new regulatory framework in 1997, the policy rationale is no longer compelling close to 20 years later with a mature telecommunications sector.

Accordingly, the bill will reduce the scope of the mandatory ACMA report to focus on the operation of Part 14 of the Tel Act, regarding national interest matters, and Part 5-1A of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 regarding data retention. The ACMA will be free to monitor and report on other issues, if it wishes to do so, providing it with greater flexibility to prepare targeted reports of most benefit to government and industry.

Section 151CM of the CCA requires the ACCC to monitor and report to the Minister each financial year on charges paid by consumers for listed carriage services, ancillary goods/services and Telstra price control arrangements.

The telecommunications market has changed significantly since these arrangements were first introduced. The monitoring and reporting obligations currently in section 151CM, which apply largely to traditional providers, may provide only a limited picture of the contemporary telecommunications market.

The bill will therefore introduce a more flexible regime allowing the ACCC to monitor and report on those services which the ACCC considers are the most commonly used consumer services supplied using a telecommunications network.

The bill will also require the ACCC to review any Record Keeping Rules made by reference to Division 12 at least every 5 years, having regard to whether the information is publicly available; whether consumer demand for the goods or services to which the information relates has changed; and the usefulness of the information to consumers, the Minister and Parliament.

The bill will substitute the requirement for the ACCC to report to the Minister (and for the Minister to table the report in Parliament) with a requirement on the ACCC to prepare and publish each report on its website within three months of financial year end.

Industry-based numbering management

The bill will also amend the Tel Act to enable a transition to an industry-based scheme for the management of telephone numbering resources, provided certain safeguards are met.

The Tel Act currently requires the ACMA to make a plan for the numbering of carriage services and the use of numbers in connection with the supply of services to the public. The numbering plan must specify the numbers for use and may set out rules for the allocation of numbers to carriage service providers, the transfer of numbers between carriage service providers, and the surrender of numbers by carriage service providers.

Industry stakeholders have proposed that numbering management be devolved to industry with potential benefits including faster implementation of new numbering ranges, lower charges and more efficient allocation processes.

This bill will amend the Tel Act to enable the Minister to appoint a 'numbering scheme manager' to manage numbering resources on behalf of the Commonwealth under a self-managed industry scheme. The scheme will need to achieve key principles specified in the legislation, including an adequate and appropriate supply of numbers, protection of the interests of consumers, the promotion of effective competition, support for the emergency call service and the ongoing collection of numbering charges.

Any industry scheme would only commence if and when the Minister was satisfied that the scheme met these and other relevant principles. Industry is expected to undertake public consultation in developing a proposed scheme. Any proposed scheme will be carefully assessed and will only be accepted if it meets the high standards implicit in the principles specified in the legislation. In addition, the Minister, the ACMA and the ACCC will be empowered to issue directions to the numbering scheme manager regarding the management of the numbering scheme.

As an important safeguard, the appointment of the numbering scheme manager could be revoked by the Minister if the numbering scheme manager was not managing the numbering scheme in accordance with the principles, or if the Minister was satisfied that the revocation was in the best interests of the telecommunications industry, users of telecommunications services, the general community or national security.

Any industry-based numbering management scheme would be fully funded by industry, however, there are also expected to be countervailing savings for industry from the reduction in ACMA involvement in numbering activities.

The proposed arrangements would have the benefit of giving the industry an opportunity to introduce more efficient arrangements in relation to managing telephone numbering resource while ensuring the continuation of core consumer and competitive safeguards in relation to numbering.

Other changes

The bill also makes minor technical amendments to the legislation governing the national broadcasters, for consistency and to reflect SBS activities in the converging digital environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, the government remains committed to removing poorly focused and onerous regulation on Australia's broadcasting and telecommunications industries. This regulation reform process does not end today; it will be a continuing part of the government's productivity agenda.

I commend the bill to the House.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (NUMBERING CHARGES) AMENDMENT BILL 2015

The Telecommunications (Numbering Charge) Amendment Bill 2015 (the bill) will make consequential amendments to the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Act 1997(the Numbering Charges act).

These amendments are necessary as a consequence of the measures included in the Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 to establish a framework to enable the telecommunications industry to develop a scheme to self-manage telephone numbering resources, provided certain safeguards are met. Currently, the Telecommunications Act 1997 requires that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) manage the numbering of carriage services in Australia, and the use of numbers in connection with the supply of such services.

While the proposed amendments to the numbering arrangements would enable industry to take on the day to day management of telephone numbering resources, it is also important to ensure that charges currently applied to carriage service providers for the holding of numbers continue to be collected. Currently these charges earn $60 million in revenue per annum. This requires an ongoing role for the ACMA in the setting, levy and collection of these charges.

The consequential amendments to the Numbering Charges Act in the bill reflect that the holding of telephone numbers by carriage service providers, for which charges arise under the Numbering Charges Act, could in future be managed by industry and require interaction between the industry administrator and the ACMA.

I commend the bill to the House.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to outline Labor's position on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 and the amendment that Labor has proposed and already foreshadowed regarding nbn co. Labor is supportive of many aspects of this bill. This bill will amend unnecessary administrative requirements imposed on broadcasting and datacasting licensees under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. It will remove tariff-filing requirements for certain carriers and carriage service providers and amend the role of ACMA with regard to the monitoring and reporting of information. It will also repeal redundant legislation and spent acts and provide a framework so the telecommunication industry is able to develop an industry scheme to manage telephone numbering.

Labor is also supportive of the related Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 2015, which makes consequential amendments to the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Act 1997, to reflect changes made by the deregulation bill. Yet because of the refusal of the Turnbull government to provide the most basic information about nbn co, Labor has been forced to seek to amend the Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015.

The reality is that nbn co and the Turnbull government will not provide the Australian parliament and people with basic financial information about how nbn co intends to spend the $29.5 billion that taxpayers are investing into the project. I just want to make sure that the enormity of that figure is sinking in: $29.5 billion of taxpayer's money and yet basic information is not being provided. The NBN financial transparency amendment seeks basic financial and deployment information that historically has always been publicly provided as part of nbn co's corporate plan, but is not included in—or has been deliberately excluded from—nbn co's latest corporate plan, Corporate plan 2016.

The Senate has asked for this information on countless occasions: in Senate committee hearings, in questions put on the notice paper and most recently through the orders for the production of documents. On every occasion, the government has refused to provide the Senate with this information. The government's claim of commercial-in-confidence in relation to this information is nonsense. The information sought is high level forecast information that historically has been made public. The parliament and the people of Australia have a right to know how nbn co is investing their $30 billion of taxpayer dollars, including how much the network will cost to build, total capital expenditure, how much the network will cost to operate by build completion, total operating expenditure, how much money it will make by build completion and total revenues.

I note there are senators on the other side of the chamber—I note Senator Smith, who has been a vocal advocate for making sure that there is greater accountability in how public money is being spent and has been a strong advocate in the past for disclosure and transparency when it comes to the issue of taxpayer dollars—who are the same senators who have argued very strongly for fiscal restraint. I look forward opportunity to have them vote with Labor on this amendment that is simply seeking more transparency and more information.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Dreaming.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We live in hope! The NBN financial transparency amendment seeks basic financial and deployment information that historically has been publicly provided as part of nbn co's plan, as I said earlier, and as part of the corporate plan. The information sought was actually last published in August 2012 as part of that year's corporate plan.

In opposition and in the early stages of the government, now Prime Minister Turnbull—at the time, Minister Turnbull—promised maximum transparency with nbn co under his watch. Mr Turnbull said:

Maximum transparency is going to be given to this project.

That was a comment that was made to the House of Representatives on 11 February 2014. The then minister said in a separate press conference held on 24 September 2013:

… our commitment is, our focus is, to have a much greater level of transparency and openness.

Then on 11 February 2014:

The bottom line is that as far as the NBN project is concerned, the government's commitment is to be completely transparent.

Earlier, on 15 December 2013:

The main promise, the most important thing we said about the NBN was that we would tell the truth, and we would liberate the management of NBN Co to tell that truth.

Mr Turnbull and Senator Cormann have also stated—and I quote the interim statement of expectations to nbn co on 24 September 2013—after coming to government:

… Government policy provides for increased security and transparency of NBN Co and its activities.

And on 8 April 2014:

The Government requires a high degree of transparency from NBN Co in its communication with the public and Parliament.

But what we have found is that Mr Turnbull has been anything but transparent. He has implemented a secrecy regime so severe that Pyongyang would be proud. The government that Mr Turnbull now leads has consistently refused to provide this parliament and the Australian people with basic financial information about how nbn co intends to spend the $29.5 billion that taxpayers are investing in this project. That is why Labor has been forced to act to amend this bill to ensure that the Australian people know how this government is spending their money.

What is so outrageous, and what has been so outrageous about the activities and action so far, is that the same information that was previously provided and the same information that was readily available under the previous government has now somehow been deemed to be too sensitive to be released, while the rhetoric coming out of the government before the last election campaign was simply that we need more transparency, we need more information and we need more openness. We should not be in a situation where the opposition is forced to try to amend a government bill is simply to be able to get basic information that was previously readily available.

Again, the spirit of this bill and the details of this bill as it is currently presented seem worthwhile and seem worthy of our support, but to make sure we are making the best decisions and we are making the right decisions what we have to also do is make sure that the right level of information is out there. I feel that if the government was prepared to trust the Australian taxpayer and the Australian consumer with a little bit more information and was able to provide them with some of the basic information that they were previously able to obtain in this area, it would result in better policy outcomes and a better public debate. We are not asking for anything that was not already available. We are not asking for anything that Labor was not prepared to divulge when we were in government. We are asking for the exact same information, word for word, that had previously been released and is now not being released.

What makes it so damning is the rhetoric that has come from the government in this space. If the government had gone to an election and said, 'We're not going to give you this information. We're going to treat this like it is an on-water matter. We're not going to give you any kind of information anymore. We're going to shut it down,' then people like myself would have disagreed and we would have had that argument, but the government would not have a leg to stand on. The government does not have a leg to stand on. The government has come repeatedly and said that they are going to be more transparent, they are going to be more open and they are going to give out more information prior to an election. What we have seen from that point after the election onwards is a crab walk away from their previous position.

Greater transparency and greater information will lead to better policy outcomes. That is what this amendment is for. Obviously, when we get the committee stage we will have a chance to discuss it in detail, but that is what this amendment seeks to do.

Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will speak to the substance of Senator Dastyari's amendment when we come to the committee stage. I am not even sure that it has been circulated to all members of the chamber. I will just advise that the Greens, on the basis of our understanding of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 2015, will be supporting the legislation. I thank the minister and I thank his advisers for offering us the briefing. It appears to the Australian Greens that this is basically housekeeping. It is an omnibus bill that sweeps up a number of different areas, particularly, streamlining the broadcast licensing regime; removing some of the licensing categories that I understand have never in fact been used in the entire time that they have been on the statute books; and maybe allowing ACMA to target its limited resources a little bit more directly at the areas where it needs to wave a stick or intervene.

The amendments on the telecom side around the ACMA and the ACCC's powers also appear to the Australian Greens to be reasonably sensible—again, streamlining recordkeeping, removing tariff fixing directions powers and a number of other fairly innocuous amendments, as far as we have been able to ascertain. I might put a couple of questions to the minister on the numbering arrangements when we get to the committee stage, but again I do not think there is anything here that we need to detain the Senate with overlong. This is sensible legislation that will clean up provisions that are either impediments to smooth functioning of the telecommunications and broadcast sector or are in fact completely redundant and have been placed in the statutes back in the mists of time and clearly have not been used and have not been all that necessary. As a housekeeping bill, we would certainly be supporting it. I think Senator Dastyari's amendment is something of a curveball and I think maybe once we get into the committee stage there will be an opportunity to debate that a little bit more directly.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to show much more enthusiasm than Senator Dastyari did for the Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 2015. To start, I just want to reflect briefly on the mis-truths, half-truths and falsehoods that Senator Dastyari has used to populate his very sparse contribution to this important issue. What Senator Dastyari conveniently ignored was the review and the findings of the Strategic review that was done into the NBN at the commencement of this coalition government's turn. For the sake of the Senate and indeed perhaps for the sake of Senator Dastyari's education I might just quote from the executive summary of the Strategic review into nbn co—and I see Senator Dastyari smiling, so he might actually know what the review says. Turning first to page 11, the report talks about the, 'operational performance to date and revised outlook,' of nbn co at the time when this coalition government inherited that particular project. It said:

At 30 September 2013, the rollout of the brownfields FTTP network was 48 percent behind the planned Premises Passed in the Corporate Plan, with 227,483 Premises Passed at that date. Of these premises, only 153,977 are Serviceable (i.e. premises that are available to be connected) by NBN Co. The greenfields and Fixed Wireless rollouts are also behind the Corporate Plan. The Revised Outlook for the current deployment plan indicates that the fibre rollout project will take three years longer to complete than indicated in the Corporate Plan, with a revised end date of June 2024. The Revised Outlook for Premises Passed at June 2014 is 357,000 compared to 1,129,000 in the Corporate Plan.

I cannot help myself, so I just want to reflect briefly on what the Strategic review had to say about the governance, planning and reporting performance under the previous government's administration of nbn co. The Strategic review said:

The Independent Assessment found that certain of the factors causing the financial and operational under-performance to date (relative to the Corporate Plan) related to governance, planning and reporting including: An unrealistic assessment by key internal and external stakeholders of the complexity and time required to complete the task; “Blind faith” in the achievability of the Corporate Plan, notwithstanding clear factual evidence to the contrary; Some significant operational decisions being made without appropriate commercial rigour and oversight;

That is just a taste of what the Strategic review had to contribute, which was revealing for the new government when it came to inherit nbn co. I am happy to report that first under Minister Turnbull, now the Prime Minister, and now under the current Minister For Communications, Senator Fifield, things are well and truly back on track.

But I would like to turn specifically now to the Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 and the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 2015. These bills are another manifestation of the coalition government's overarching commitment to removing needless, burdensome regulation from right across government and fostering a more innovative culture that benefits consumers through greater competition. Since coming to office, the coalition government has removed over 3,000 pages of outmoded regulation from across the span of the communications portfolio, which together represent savings of around $300 million per year for those involved in the sector.

The communications portfolio, being what it is, the evolution of technology and rapidly changing patterns of consumer behaviour are combining to present a particular challenge for legislators. The legislation before us today is designed to remove regulatory impediments to innovation whilst still preserving the flexibility that regulatory authorities need to rapidly adapt to these technological and consumer driven changes.

In terms of the specifics, this bill will achieve a number of things. Firstly, it introduces a more efficient regime for broadcasters and datacasters when it comes to account-keeping and licence fee administration under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. This legislation will change the default audit requirements that apply to certain financial information provided by licensees to ACMA at the end of the financial year. These changes will allow ACMA to request the auditing of financial documents if ACMA considers it necessary. In other words, broadcasters and datacasters will not have to submit to default audits by ACMA. The approach will instead become a risk based one. Additionally, the bill will now permit ACMA to waive small licence fee underpayments where, in the regulator's opinion, it would not be sufficient to recover the amount unpaid.

This legislation will also make some improvements to Australia's classification regime. At present, commercial and community broadcasters are required to classify films they broadcast using the film classification scheme separate to the code based classification system that applies to other TV programs. This process was originally established to maintain consistency between classification ratings applied to films screened in the theatre or released on DVD and for when those films were broadcast over television. However, the two codes have now converged to the point where they are almost indistinguishable and thus the rationale for the two separate processes no longer applies. The changes set out in this bill will permit broadcasters to use a single classification scheme for all their broadcasts and thus provide greater certainty for consumers.

The legislation will also make some changes to the information collection powers of both ACMA and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Under a regime that was first established almost two decades ago, ACMA was required to monitor and report to the minister and, in turn, the minister was required to table a report in parliament each financial year on significant matters relating to the performance of the telecommunications industry. This procedure was put in place as a mechanism when the Australian telecommunications sector was radically altered by the deregulation of the communications sector 20 years ago. However, with that approach having now come to maturity, there is no longer any compelling reason for such an onerous reporting mechanism. Thus, this bill will limit the mandatory aspect of ACMA's reporting requirements to matters of national interest and data retention, while still allowing ACMA the flexibility it needs to report on other matters should it wish to do so.

Section 151CM of the Competition and Consumer Act requires the ACCC to monitor and report to the minister each financial year on charges paid by consumers for listed carriage services, ancillary goods and services and Telstra's price control arrangements. This requirement no longer fits the reality of the telecommunications market in our country. In fact, the current approach is likely providing a limited and therefore distorted view of the realities of today's operating environment. This legislation will usher in a more flexible regime that will allow the ACCC to monitor and report on those services which the ACCC considers are the most commonly used consumer services supplied using a telecommunications network. Further, the legislation will replace the requirement for the ACCC to report to the minister and for the minister to table a report in the parliament with a requirement that the ACCC prepare and publish each report on its website within three months of the end of each financial year.

The legislation will also amend the Telecommunications Act to facilitate a transition to an industry based scheme for the management of telephone numbering resources, with the proviso that particular safeguards are met. At present, ACMA is required to make a plan for the numbering of carriage services and the use of numbers in connection with the supply of services to the public. This numbering plan must specify the numbers for use and may set out rules for the allocation of numbers to carriage service providers, the transfer of numbers between carriage service providers and the surrender of numbers by carriage service providers. In today's rapidly evolving communications environment, it is questionable whether this approach is going to meet consumer needs. Certainly industry stakeholders have expressed concerns that it will not meet consumer needs and that the present system is needlessly costly which ultimately ends up being an issue for all consumers.

This legislation will amend the Telecommunications Act to enable the minister to appoint a numbering scheme manager to manage numbering resources on behalf of the Commonwealth under a self-managed industry scheme. Under such an arrangement, the scheme will still need to achieve key principles specified in the legislation, including an adequate and appropriate supply of numbers, protection of the interests of consumers, the promotion of effective competition, support for the emergency call service and the ongoing collection of numbering charges. An industry managed scheme will only be permitted to commence once the minister is satisfied these conditions will be met and maintained. These proposed arrangements provide the telecommunications industry with an opportunity to introduce more efficient arrangements for managing telephone numbering resources while maintaining core consumer and competitive safeguards in relation to numbering.

The changes made in this legislation are eminently sensible and designed to make certain that our regulatory framework better reflects contemporary reality. The support of the opposition is welcome in this regard, as indeed it is from the Australia Greens. We have certainly come a long way from Senator Conroy's days as the minister for communications when he dreamed of being an all-powerful commissar who could force telecommunications executives to, in his own words, 'wear red underpants on their heads'. Just as Senator Conroy's comments betrayed an attitude to telecommunications rooted firmly in a bygone era, the changes being made to Australia's communications framework through these bills will ensure that the nation is better equipped to deal with the fast-moving realities of disruptive technologies and to take advantage of them in a way that benefits broadcasters, telecommunications companies and, of course, consumers.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my colleagues for their contributions—perhaps not some colleagues as much as others! The Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 and the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 2015 are, as Senator Ludlam indicated in his contribution, essentially a series of housekeeping measures. In 2013 the government made a commitment to regulatory reform by reducing the burden of regulation, boosting productivity, increasing competitiveness and improving regulator performance. This legislation is the latest in a series of measures designed to implement this commitment in the communications portfolio.

The proposed measures in the legislation would amend, as Senator Smith covered, the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to streamline regulation and reduce the regulatory burden on the broadcasting industry by making some minor amendments to account-keeping and licence fee administration arrangements for commercial broadcasters and datacasting transmitter licensees. The legislation will also remove duplicative requirements for licensees, publishers and controllers to notify ACMA of certain changes in control. It will deliver a single classification scheme for all television programs by removing the requirements to apply the separate film classification scheme for some programs, and it will make for clearer regulation by clarifying ACMA's complaints handling and investigation functions.

The legislation will also remove unnecessary arrangements for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to issue a tariff-filing directions to certain carriers and carriage services providers under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It will reform the statutory information collection powers of the ACMA under the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the ACCC under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to ensure that the information collected from industry is relevant and serves a useful public policy purpose. The bill will also amend the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 to enable the transition to an industry based scheme for the management of telephone numbering resources, potentially enabling greater efficiencies if industry develops a suitable scheme. The related numbering charges bill will make consequential amendments to the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Act 1997 as a result of these changes, ensuring that numbering charges continue to be set and collected by the ACMA following any transition to an industry based scheme.

Finally, the bill will make various other amendments to remove redundant and unnecessary legislation, including repealing 53 spent acts.

The bills are a further step in the government's deregulation agenda. I thank colleagues in the chamber for indicating their support for the provisions in the bill. I should acknowledge the amendments foreshadowed by Senator Dastyari relating to the NBN. I think it is something that colleagues in this place have come to expect from the good Senator Conroy: that from time to time there will be amendments moved to legislation that actually do not have relevance to the particular legislation before the chamber. An example of that was an omnibus repeal bill where we saw amendment to—

Senator Conroy interjecting—

I stand corrected, Senator Conroy—one in particular to do with submarines. The legislation before us, as I have indicated and as Senator Ludlam characterised it, is essentially housekeeping. Senator Conroy, in seeking to move his amendments, is seeking to introduce to this bill something which is not really connected to it. I am sure that there will be ample opportunity shortly to canvass some of the reasons why the government is not minded to support Senator Conroy's foreshadowed amendment. With those remarks I commend the bill to my colleagues.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.