(1) Which telephone sex service providers are now compliant with the new Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999.

(2) How many numbers have been made available in the 1901 range for the telephone sex services.

(3) How many customers have taken up personal identification numbers for telephone sex services.

(4) How many evidentiary certificates have been issued by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA).

(5) (a) How many complaints have been made to the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) regarding the new Act; (b) who were the complainants; and (c) what was the substance of their complaints.

(6) When will the results of the ABA's monitoring of telephone sex line advertising be available.

Based on advice from the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA)

(1) As there are no registration requirements on telephone sex service providers, a list of the telephone sex providers compliant with the new legislation is not available.

(2) The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) has issued a block of 100, 000 numbers to Telstra for 1901 numbers. The ACA advises that Telstra has issued 225 of these numbers to telephone sex services as at 29 June 2000.

(3) The ACA has advised that Telstra has issued 250 personal identification numbers as at 29 June 2000. However it should be noted that many purchasers of these services are now paying for the service by credit card and do not need a PIN number. A PIN is only needed where the charge for the telephone sex service is to be included in the telephone bill.

Other carriers are currently not offering these services.

(4) To date the ABA has not issued an evidentiary certificate pursuant to section 15 8F of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act (the Act). However. the ABA has received requests from the ACA for advice on a number of services, which are being considered in this way.

(5) (a) The ACA advises that they have received 14 written complaints as at 29 June 2000.

A number of verbal representations have also been received from bureaux and telephone sex service providers.

(b) The complaints can be broken into the following groups:

(c) The substance of these complaints can be broken down into the following groups:

. 1900 and 1902 numbers being disconnected by carriage service providers, 1

. Continued advertisement of telephone sex services in print media, 5

. Advertisement of telephone sex services as chat lines, 7

. Request for definition of the term sexual gratification as used in the Act, 1

(6) On 30 November 2000, the Minister directed the ABA to conduct an investigation into the advertising of designated telephone sex services during the period between 1 December 1999 and 30 November 2000. The Minister directed that the ABA provide him with interim reports during the investigation, and a final report by 15 December 2000.

The ABA has provided the Minister with two reports to date.