Another code collapses

We don’t often write about telecommunications but a recent development has uncanny connections with media standards.

Last week, the ACMA – the same regulator responsible for the Four Corners investigation report Monica discusses above – effectively announced the end of the system where industry makes the rules about important aspects of telecommunications consumer protection. And this follows its decision in June last year to knock back a new version of the code developed for commercial TV.  

In doing so, the ACMA appears to be taking a more assertive stance than it, or any of its predecessors, has adopted in the last 33 years!

The legislation that governs telco consumer issues was modelled on broadcasting laws which were introduced in 1992. Codes of practice under the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Services Act are essentially written by industry bodies then officially “registered” with the ACMA. Under these co-regulatory schemes, the ACMA can enforce the rules, although the ways in which that happens differ. In commenting on the recent saga surrounding the Kyle and Jacki O Show, we explained some of the deficiencies in the enforcement tools available to the ACMA for breaches of broadcasting codes. And in our research for ACCAN a couple of years ago, we looked at aspects of the telco system that could be improved.

But the landscape will change dramatically with ACMA’s rejection of the latest Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code. It will be replaced by a standard that ACMA – rather than the industry – will write, and it will attract more immediate and more serious enforcement options. The Australian Telecommunications Alliance had been working on the code, first registered in 2008, since 2023. Dissatisfaction with the code has grown, and it’s now six years since the Department of Communications issued a paper proposing that the consumer protection rules be moved out of the co-regulatory sphere and into the direct orbit of ACMA. Some aspects of consumer protection have already moved across to the regulator, but it looks like this latest move will mean the end of co-regulation as we know it – at least for these key consumer protection measures.

Now to the broadcasting sector, where, in June last year ACMA rejected a new version of the Commercial Television Code of Practice, saying it would not provide adequate community safeguards.  As we noted at the time, the rejection appeared to focus on a proposal to extend the M classification time zone, allowing more alcohol advertising. ACMA said it would commence “a body of work to assess the suitability of alcohol advertising restrictions in the current code” and that this work would inform its consideration of whether to make a content standard. Such a result would be comparable to the decision on the TCP Code – although this standard might apply just to the aspect of alcohol ads, leaving the rest of the code intact.

Complicating things is the fact that the review of the TV code apparently also threw up “significant community concern regarding gambling advertising on commercial TV” which ACMA noted was under consideration by government. Cue the announcement by the Prime Minister last week that new rules will, among other things, limit the number of gambling ads on TV and prohibit them altogether during live sport broadcasts between 6.00am and 8.30pm.

While all this has been going on, the old TV code has been running along in the background. Which is odd, really, since ACMA flagged back in 2022 that it wanted change. It seems there’s something missing in a system that doesn’t have a next step. Still, the new rules about gambling ads will require amendments to the code, so maybe this offers the broadcasters and the regulator the opportunity to sort out their differences and have another go at registering a replacement TV code.

Making a deal is, after all, a sign of the times.

References:

CMT newsletter item on Kyle and Jacki O: https://www.uts.edu.au/news/2026/03/kiis-fm-and-the-underwhelming-undertaking  

CMT research on telecommunications enforcement issues: https://www.uts.edu.au/research/centres/centre-media-transition/projects-and-research/enforcement-telecommunications-consumer-protections  

Department of Communications Consumer Safeguards Review: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/consumer-safeguards-review-consultation-part-c-choice-and-fairness  

CMT newsletter item about the Free TV code: https://www.uts.edu.au/news/2025/07/no-new-rules-about-news  

Prime Minister’s announcement about gambling ads: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/strong-action-tackle-gambling-harms