Senator FIELDING (Leader of the Family First Party) (2:46 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. I refer to the article in the Age on 23 November which revealed that more than one million unsuspecting and vulnerable people will be hassled and targeted by unsolicited marketing calls from May next year because their telephone numbers will automatically drop off the Do Not Call Register. Will the government commit to fixing this dodgy loophole and protect unsuspecting Australian families from unsolicited marketing calls?

Senator CONROY (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) —I thank Senator Fielding for a very good question. Can I inform him on what is happening around us, because we campaigned long and hard—as did you, Senator Fielding—for this Do Not Call Register. We were pleased to ultimately support a piece of legislation that was not perfect but at least was a beginning. So can I inform him that the ACMA is conducting an awareness campaign early next year to remind people currently on the Do Not Call Register that they will need to renew their registration on the Do Not Call Register every three years, as is the case with the existing legislation. In order to renew their registration, all people need to do is to log on to donotcall.gov.au and re-register or call the free call number 1300792958. People can do this at any stage and do not need to wait until their registration period has expired. The period of registration is an issue being examined as part of the current statutory review of the register, because I take the point that you are making: that this was something that the previous government did because they were forced into doing it. They did not want to do it and they were shamed into doing it.

The government announced in the budget that it would expand the Do Not Call Register to help protect businesses, fax users and emergency service providers. The changes to the Do Not Call Register are about giving all Australian businesses the choice of opting out of unsolicited and unwanted telemarketing and fax marketing. It has been a particular concern of mine that unwanted and unsolicited calls and faxes are wasting valuable business resources and could potentially affect the operation of emergency service organisations. Public consultation undertaken by my department indicated that approximately 86 per cent of respondents supported the extension of the register to all telephone and fax numbers. (Time expired)

Senator FIELDING —Thank you for the answer, Senator Conroy. It is a very important issue for many Australian families and small businesses that do not want these calls. Mr President, I do, however, ask a supplementary question. I understand that ACMA has reported a 60 per cent reduction in complaints against unsolicited and unwanted marketing calls since the introduction of the Do Not Call Register. Given that you are doing a review, is it Labor policy that numbers should drop off the register automatically? Is it something you are seriously reviewing? People do not want to have to renew their numbers on the Do Not Call Register.

Senator CONROY (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) —A discussion paper outlining the key issues surrounding the operation of the current Do Not Call Register scheme was released on 6 October 2009 and submissions on the review were due by 4 November. My department also ran advertisements in all metropolitan newspapers to encourage submissions from a broad range of parties. My department also held consultation meetings with industry stakeholders, including banks, marketing associations and call centres, as part of the review. As part of that we are more than happy to consider the issue of whether or not there should be a three-year rollover or not. That is certainly something we are happy to consider. I was disappointed, like you. There are some practical issues. People do change phone numbers and some phone numbers get put on by people who then change them ultimately and then they get passed on to other consumers. So there are some practical issues with that permanent list. But I think those are all really important issues, Senator Fielding, and I am more than happy to say to you that we are definitely prepared to set it out as an issue. (Time expired)