The Government is consulting on Part C of the Consumer Safeguards Review (the Review). Part C will consider how best to provide choice and fairness in the consumer-provider relationship, including the role of industry self-regulation, legacy consumer protections for traditional phone services, and digital inclusion and productivity.

How it works

Why we want your input
We are seeking your views to help us develop the next generation of consumer safeguards for the future telecommunications environment.
How you can voice your opinion
You can have your say by reading the consultation paper and sending through written submissions by 5:00pm AEST on Monday 24 August 2020.
What will be the outcome of this consultation?
Your feedback will inform Part C of the Review's report and associated recommendations. The Review will report to Government later in 2020.

Consultation Information

Consultation tabs

The Issue
Consultation Period:  July 27, 2020 07:00 AEST to August 24, 2020 17:00 AEST

The consumer safeguards currently in place were mostly designed around fixed-line voice services delivered over the existing copper telephone network. We are reviewing these protections to develop a safeguards framework for future services.

On 17 April 2018, the former Minister for Communications and the Arts, former Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield, announced the Terms of Reference for the Consumer Safeguards Review. The Review is being conducted in three parts. Part A (redress and complaint handling) is largely complete. The final report for Part B (reliability of services) was released on 17 December 2019 and implementation is underway.

We are currently consulting on Part C of the Review (choice and fairness). On 27 July 2020, the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, released a consultation paper to inform feedback. You can view the consultation paper and supporting documents in the Relevant Documentation section below.

If you want to discuss the Part C consultation paper or have any queries about the Review process, you can email the Review team.

Part A: consumer redress and complaints handling. Part B: reliability of services. Part C: choice and fairness.

Relevant Documentation

Consumer Safeguards Review—Part C—Choice and Fairness: Consultation paper

Published 27th Jul 2020

Download PDF (741.76 KB) Download DOC (213.05 KB)
The Consumer Safeguards Review (the Review) is examining what consumer safeguards are required for a changing communications environment, with a focus on the post-2020 environment—one in which the large scale roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be complete and the vast majority of premises will have migrated to an NBN service. Part A of the Review has considered complaints handling and redress and Part B has considered service reliability, including existing obligations for service connection and fault repair.

Telecommunications Consumer Safeguards­–International and sectoral comparisons of consumer protections for choice and fairness in the retail relationship between customers and their providers

Published 27th Jul 2020

Download PDF (505.42 KB) Download DOC (159.78 KB)
PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd (PwC) was engaged to prepare this report with the intention that it would be made available to persons participating in the Consumer Safeguards Review.

Addendum—Telecommunications Consumer Safeguards: International and sectoral comparisons of consumer protections for choice and fairness in the retail relationship between customers and their providers

Published 27th Jul 2020

Download PDF (218.22 KB) Download DOC (143.31 KB)
This addendum provides information on developments which have occurred within Australia since the PwC paper. It does not cover Section 2: Comparisons to other countries, or Section 3: Choice and fairness protections in other countries. The information in Sections 2 and 3 was current at August 2018, and is provided for benchmarking purposes only.

Participate

Started July 27, 2020 07:00 AEST
Ends August 24, 2020 17:00 AEST
Days Remaining 15 of 28
Open

Formal Submission

We invite you to to tell us your views on this topic.

Please include:

  • contact name
  • organisation name, if applicable
  • contact details, including telephone number, postal and email addresses
  • confirmation whether or not your submission can be made public—published—or kept confidential.

All submissions to be made public need to meet the Digital Service Standard for accessibility. Any submission that does not meet this standard may be modified before being made public.

If your submission is to be made public, please ensure you do not include any personal information that you don't want to be published.

If your submission is confidential, please ensure each page of the submission is marked as confidential.

Please click on the 'Have your say now' button below to upload your submission.

Alternatively please email your completed template submission to consumersafeguardsreview@communications.gov.au or send it to:

Consumer Safeguards Review
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications
GPO Box 594
Canberra ACT 2601