2024 Regional Telecommunications Review

Listen

The 2024 Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee wants to hear about your experiences in accessing and using telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Why we want your input

Sharing your views and experiences will help the Committee gauge the adequacy of telecommunications services and determine current and future needs. The Committee would also like to hear your innovative ideas about how to improve telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

How you can voice your opinion

You can provide a written submission using the have your say link below by 31 July 2024. Or you can have your say by completing a short survey which will be published in May 2024.

What will be the outcome of this consultation?

The Committee is required to report to the Australian Government on the adequacy of telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia. Your submission will help the Committee to understand the issues of concern in regional Australia and inform recommendations in the report to address these issues.

The Issue

The Regional Telecommunications Review (the Review) is an opportunity for people living and working in regional, rural and remote Australia to share their views and experiences using telecommunications services.

Every 3 years a Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee (the Committee) is established to conduct the Review. The Committee’s findings and recommendations help set the government’s approach to regional telecommunications issues and policy during the following years.

The 2024 Committee was appointed on 12 January 2024. The five members appointed to the Committee—the Hon Alannah MacTiernan (Chair), Mr Ian Kelly, Ms Kristy Sparrow, The Hon Fiona Nash and Dr Jessa Rogers—will conduct public consultations during 2024.

The Review will examine the suitability of telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia. It will also consider particular issues identified in the Terms of Reference, including:

awareness and impact of government investment in regional communications
implications, opportunities and attitudes towards changing and emerging technologies
how needs are being met in First Nations communities
suitability of communications services during emergencies and natural disasters
potential to fast track some Universal Service Obligation reforms.

The Committee has been asked to deliver its report to the Australian Government by 31 December 2024. The Committee may make recommendations to the Government, to which it must respond.

Visit the Regional Telecommunications Review website for more information about the Review and the consultation process.

Issues Paper

You can use the Issues Paper to help guide your submission.

The Issues Paper outlines key areas of interest for the Committee, and includes questions you may like to address in your submission. You can address all the questions or just those that are relevant to you. Your submission is not limited to the questions.

To make it easier to have your say, we will also be publishing a survey in May 2024 that you can use instead of providing a written submission. Completing the survey will allow you to quickly share your views on a range of topics and provide valuable information to the Committee about your experience in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Relevant documentation

2024 Regional Telecommunications Review—Issues Paper

Participate

22 Apr 2024 09:00 AEST

31 Jul 2024 23:59 AEST

Closed

This consultation is closed.

Privacy Collection Notice

2024 Regional Telecommunications Review

Your submission, including any personal information supplied, is being collected by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (“the Department”) in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.

Use

The Department may use your submission to inform consideration of issues associated with regional telecommunications and the 2024 Regional Telecommunications Review and will store this information securely.

Disclosure

The Department may disclose your submission to members of the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee to assist in conducting its review. The Department may publish your submission as explained below. Otherwise your submission will not be disclosed unless authorised or required by law.

Contacting You

The Department may use your contact information to make further contact with you about your submission and the consultation process.

Publication

Unless marked confidential (see below) submissions (including the author’s name) may be published in part or full on the Department’s website or in any public response by the Department or by the Committee. When publishing, the Department and Committee will redact any personal contact details of the author.

Confidentiality

Confidential submissions will not be published and will only be disclosed in the following circumstances:

in response to a request by a Commonwealth Minister;
where required by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia;
where necessary in the public interest; or
where authorised or required by law.

Submissions will only be treated as confidential if they are expressly stated to be confidential. Automatically generated confidentiality statements or disclaimers appended to an email do not suffice for this purpose. If you wish you make a confidential submission, you must indicate this by ensuring your submission is clearly marked confidential. Even if a submission is not marked confidential, the Department may choose not to publish it, or any part of it, in the Department’s discretion (for example where it includes personal information or opinions about a third party).

Access

The Department will securely store your personal information and the Department’s privacy policy contains information regarding complaint handling processes and how to access and/or seek correction of personal information held by the Department. Further information is available at Privacy | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.