Consumer Safeguards Review consultation—Part C: Choice and fairness

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.

Image

Relevant Documentation

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

Published 27th Jul 2020

Download PDF (643.18 KB) Download DOC (212.94 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.