The Australian Greens are calling for reform of the government’s communications watchdog following reports that it reduced fines for large-scale public safety breaches committed by Optus.
As the ABC reported last week, an Australian and Communications and Media Authority investigation discovered Optus breached public safety rules that impacted almost 200,000 people over a two-and-a-half year period.
Despite the seriousness of the violations, ACMA agreed to slap Optus with a lower-range fine if the telco agreed to an Enforceable Undertaking – a legally binding agreement often used as an alternative to court action.
“The public need to know they have a corporate watchdog with teeth, not a corporate lapdog,” Greens communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said in response. “The truth is the ACMA has been too weak and too cosy with the big corporations it’s tasked with regulating for too long.”
The ABC also discovered that the regulator allowed Optus to sign off on an ACMA press release announcing the $1.5m penalty.
“The ACMA is overdue for a thorough overhaul. They are supposed to regulate these big corporations, not collude with them on communications strategy,” Hanson-Young said. “The ACMA should reveal the full list of every media statement they have consulted with industry and corporations on before releasing for public consumption.”
“A wet lettuce”
This is not the first time the Greens senator has challenged ACMA. Last year in a Senate estimates hearing, Hanson-Young criticised the watchdog for failing to adequately act over “sexist, racist and misogynistic” content broadcast on KISS FM’s flagship breakfast show.
Calling ACMA “a wet lettuce”, Hanson-Young said: “The regulator continues to show they are useless when it comes to holding media companies and telcos to account.”
She added: “Comprehensive reform to communications and media regulation is long overdue. The agency needs a big broom through it.”
In response to the “inaccuracies and ill-informed assertions”, ACMA released a statement, saying it is “open to scrutiny, and we value and welcome our accountability to the Australian public. However, misinformed views promulgated publicly only have the effect of eroding public trust in vital consumer protection mechanisms.”
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