Gov't grant to help create new consumer telecoms body

Stuart Corner
Monday, 23 June 2008 10:27

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The government has given a grant of $87,000 to the Consumers' Telecommunications Network (CTN) to help fund the creation of a new body to represent the interests of consumers on telecommunications matters: it could end up absorbing CTN.

The initiative to create the new body came from a Consumer Representation Stakeholder forum organised by communications minister, Stephen Conroy on 1 May 2008.

That move followed a promise made by Conroy in his speech to the Atug conference in March  when he said he was interested in exploring a range of options that would "provide the strong voice consumers need. He said:"This could be along the lines of a federated peak body and substructure as proposed by the Productivity Commission in its draft report, Review of Australia's Consumer Policy Framework (December 2007)."

Conroy said the $87,000 would cover costs associated with obtaining legal advice, logo and branding development, website development, a human resources consultancy for wages benchmarking and project management and sitting fees."

However he cautioned that "There are many practical considerations to setting up a new body such as this. Some are particularly difficult for not-for-profit organisations such as those charged with this task."

The co-ordinator of CTN ,Teresa Corbin, told iTWire that planning for the new body was being undertaken by a working group made up of representatives of "groups funded by the Section 593 grants": Atug, Setel, ISOC-AU, Women With Disabilities, the Australian Federation of Disabilities Organisations, Tedicor, the Communications Law Centre (Vic), and Katriona Lowe representing The Consumer Action Law Centre (Vic) and the Australian Consumers Association (Choice)."
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