Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (13:01) 

I rise today to contribute to the debate on the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. This bill represents a crucial step forward, ensuring that telecommunication providers are held accountable for the services that they provide and the obligations that they owe to their customers.
Communication is fundamental to the human experience and, in our day, to existence. We need to be able to communicate with people. It is the very foundation of our social structures, our economies and our democracies. Throughout history, the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently has driven human advancement. Today we can connect with people around the world in seconds. We can conduct business, maintain relationships and access vital services with a click of a button. This unprecedented ease of communication has opened doors to opportunities that previous generations could have only dreamed of.
But, as incredible as our telecommunications infrastructure has become, we know it's not perfect. In fact, for too many Australians, it's a source of frustration and hardship. Poor service, misleading contracts, billing errors and unresponsive customer support have left many consumers feeling powerless in their dealings with big telecommunications companies. We have heard all the stories of people left without phone or internet services for weeks, being overcharged with no clear path to a resolution or being ignored by providers that fail to uphold even the most basic standards of service. The current telecommunications consumer protection framework exists to prevent harm, but it is clear that it has not kept pace with industry practices and consumer expectations. Too many people remain vulnerable. That's why this government has taken decisive action to strengthen safeguards, particularly for those experiencing financial hardship, domestic violence and other vulnerabilities.

This bill is about more than just regulation; it's about ensuring fairness. It enhances the compliance and enforcement powers of the Australian Communications and Media Authority to hold telecommunications providers accountable. A key measure is the elimination of the ineffective two-step enforcement process, which currently allows companies to breach consumer protection rules without immediate consequences. Under the existing system, the ACMA must first issue a direction to a company before taking further action, essentially granting big telcos a free pass on their first violation. This loophole has allowed bad actors to operate with impunity, disregarding their responsibilities, while consumers suffer. This bill removes that loophole. It empowers the ACMA to take direct and immediate enforcement action against telcos that fail to meet their obligations. This change ensures that breaches are met with swift consequences, reinforcing the message that consumer rights cannot be ignored.

Another major component of this legislation is the significant increase in penalties for noncompliance. The maximum general penalty for breaching industry codes and standards under the Telecommunications Act 1997 is currently capped at $250,000, an amount that in 1997 may have been a meaningful deterrent, but, in 2025, for multibillion-dollar telecommunications companies this sum is nothing more than a minor operational cost. This bill increases the maximum penalty to approximately $10 million and, in certain cases, allows penalties to be based on the value of the benefit obtained from misconduct or the revenue of the offending provider. This approach ensures penalties have real teeth. Telecommunications companies will no longer be able to view fines as just another cost of doing business. Instead, they will face financial consequences substantial enough to deter unethical behaviour and incentivise compliance. These changes bring the telecommunications sector in line with other heavily regulated industries, such as banking and energy, and align telecommunications regulation with the broader Australian consumer law.

To further support enforcement efforts, the bill expands the government's ability to increase infringement notice penalty amounts issued by the ACMA. This ensures that penalties remain proportionate with the nature of the violation, strengthening incentives for industry compliance and protecting Australian consumers.
Beyond enforcement and penalties, this bill also increases transparency in the telecommunications market. It establishes a carrier service provider, or CSP, registration scheme, a long overdue measure that will allow more effective oversight of telecommunications retailers. This scheme grants ACMA the power to prevent high-risk or harmful providers from operating in the market, ensuring that only those that meet strict standards are allowed to provide services in this country, in Australia. This is common sense. No company that poses an unacceptable risk to consumers should be permitted to continue operating unchecked. The maximum tolerance for providers that exploit or harm consumers should be zero.

These reforms are implemented through four key schedules. Schedule 1 establishes the CSP registration scheme, helping to prevent high-risk providers from operating and stopping those that have already caused harm. Schedule 2 makes industry codes directly enforceable, equipping the ACMA with the necessary tools to address harm and ensure compliance. Schedule 3 modernises the penalty framework by increasing the maximum general civil penalty from a mere $250,000 to 30,300 penalty units, currently equalling up to $9.9 million, bringing it in line with other regulated sectors. Schedule 4 clarifies and extends the authority of the Minister for Communications to increase infringement notice penalties, ensuring that breaches of telecommunication rules are met with appropriate consequences. These changes will provide stronger protections for consumers right across this country. They demonstrate our government's commitment to ensuring Australians receive the telecommunication services they deserve—services that are reliable, fair and accountable to the people that they serve.

For my constituents in the Hunter electorate, one of the most frustrating and damaging issues has been regular telecommunications outages and the lack of accountability from providers. I can tell you that I am sick of it in my office, so I can only imagine what the people of the Hunter feel. The Hunter is a large and diverse region encompassing rural, regional and urban areas, and each of these face distinct challenges in addressing reliable telecommunications services. Over the past few years, there have been several major outages that have significantly impacted on the daily lives of residents and businesses right there in the Hunter.

One such incident occurred during the 2022 storm season when severe weather caused widespread damage to telecommunications infrastructure across the region. For days, many residents were left without phone or internet services. While such storms understandably cause disruptions, the ways these outages were handled by the telecommunications providers were unacceptable and absolutely atrocious. In many instances, service providers failed to offer timely updates or clear communication about the restoration process. There was little to no information shared with affected consumers and customers about the extent of the damage or the timeline for their repairs. People were left in the dark, with no way of knowing when they could expect to get their services back. For some, this meant being completely cut off from emergency services, essential communications and online platforms for work or education.

In rural and regional areas like those in the Hunter, many people rely heavily on telecommunications for business and education. Farmers and small-business owners in the region were hit especially hard, with several unable to complete vital transactions, contact suppliers or stay in touch with consumers. One constituent, a farmer from the Upper Hunter, reported losing several days work during an outage that left him without internet access. With no way to communicate with his clients, he suffered significant financial losses that would have been entirely avoidable had services been properly maintained and the outage better managed.

Similarly, during these outages, there was a stark lack of responsiveness from telecommunications providers. Many residents tried to reach out to customer service only to be met with long wait times, unhelpful responses and a lack of accountability. In some cases, providers failed to acknowledge that the services had gone down until days after the issue had started. By the time any meaningful updates were shared, the damage was already done. Many businesses suffered and many families were left without critical means of communication.
The communication failure does not stop at outages. Many residents have experienced frustration over ongoing issues like billing areas, dropped out phone calls and unreliable internet. Yet, when consumers raise these issues, they often feel dismissed or ignored by these large telecommunications companies. One constituent shared their experience of repeatedly reporting poor internet speeds and being told that the problem was being looked into, only for nothing to improve. The feeling of being powerless in the face of unresponsive telecommunications companies has led to the growing sense of disillusionment between them all. These repeated outages, combined with poor communications, are a clear sign of systematic failures within the telecommunications industry.

Consumers are expected to rely on these services for essential activities—health care, work, education and even staying in touch with loved ones. When these services fail, the impacts are not just inconvenient; they affect people's ability to function in society. What makes matters even worse is that the companies responsible for these services are not held accountable for their negligence. There is no meaningful compensation or apology for the harm caused to residents and no significant deterrent in place to prevent these outages from occurring into the future.

With the existing regulatory framework, these providers can continue to cut corners and neglect their obligations, knowing that any consequences would likely be very minimal. This is where the reform in the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill comes in. By empowering the ACMA with the ability to act swiftly in the face of such outages and by increasing the penalties for poor service and poor communications, this bill will ensure that telecommunications providers in the Hunter and across Australia take their responsibilities more seriously. If a provider fails to deliver the services that consumers are paying for, they will now face real consequences. This includes a much-needed focus on improving transparency, providing timely updates during service disruptions and ensuring that consumers are kept informed every step of the way. In addition to increased penalties, we'll make sure that the financial cost for failing to meet consumer standards is substantial enough to prevent companies from cutting corners.

The provisions in this bill, such as the new carrier service, the CSP, registration scheme will make sure that providers who harm consumers or fail to meet basic service standards will no longer be allowed to operate unchecked. This is especially crucial in regions like the Hunter where many areas are still underrepresented or have limited access to reliable telecommunications infrastructure. The changes in this bill are not just fixing the system for the future; they are about addressing the failures that have already hurt so many Australians.
For the people of the Hunter electorate, these reforms represent a much-needed shift towards fairer treatment and greater accountability in the telecommunications sector. It is time that the big companies understand that they are accountable, not only to their shareholders but also to the people that they provide services to every single day of the week. The changes made in this bill to improve the compliance and enforcement of consumer safeguards are implemented through four schedules. These reforms work together to provide protection for the whole community. They benefit us all. These reforms also reflect the commitment to making sure that Australians are appropriately protected and supported in their interactions with telecommunications service providers.

It is also important to take note that the key players in the sector are right behind these changes.

Organisations and bodies like the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the Consumer Action Law Centre, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Communications Alliance are all on the same page. We're all fighting for this the same way. Everyone is on board, because even blind Freddy could see that things need to change. What we have now is just not good enough. It isn't working. As the old saying goes, if something isn't broken, don't fix it. But this system is broken. It is truly broken, and we are here to fix it. I've had constituents come to me feeling like they are being ripped off by their service providers, and constituents have told me that they pay for a service that does not always work and that they do not always get what they want from their service provider. As an Albanese Labor government, we are making this better. We will fix this problem. That's what this bill does. I commend the bill to the House.