Strong action bringing telcos to account is the way to go
Consumer Action Law Centre has warmly welcomed today’s announcement from Communications Minister Michelle Rowland further strengthening consumer protections and increasing the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) enforcement ability to punish poor conduct by telcos towards their customers.
“There is still some way to go to ensure telco customers get all the protections they deserve but this is a big step in the right direction,” said Stephanie Tonkin, CEO Consumer Action.
“Where businesses are doing the wrong thing by their customers, it’s critical that the regulator can act swiftly and issue penalties that serve as meaningful deterrents, which is what today’s announcement allows. I want to acknowledge the significant progress made by the Albanese Government and the dedicated work of Minister Rowland in making this happen.”
The final piece in the puzzle is for the Government to introduce fit for purpose laws to stop poor and predatory sales practices towards vulnerable consumers and to boost credit assessment measures. This can only be done through direct regulation.
“We have learnt through the experience of the people who call our frontlines, that fundamental consumer protections written in an industry code can never be strong enough to meet community safeguards,” Ms Tonkin said.
“We cannot leave it to the telco industry to write its own rules. The Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, recently released for consultation, is still far too light on meaningful protections to stop poor and exploitative conduct by telcos.
“The Government has the opportunity to introduce a complete reform package now.’
ENDS
Media contact: Mark Pearce mark@consumeraction.org.au Tel: 0413 299 567
