Need to know
- One in three women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and one in five have experienced sexual violence
- Telecommunications providers can play a big role in perpetuating this shameful reality, but the industry is not legally required to do anything about it
- The federal government recently announced that voluntary guidelines around telcos and domestic violence will be made mandatory
It would be nice to think the telecommunications sector had procedures in place to deal with situations where its services become tools of domestic violence, but victim-survivors reaching out for help generally encounter a wall of corporate indifference, piling on even more fear, stress and anxiety.
The statistics in Australia on violence against women and children by family members or partners are a stark reminder of what goes on all around us every day, hidden from view. At the latest count, one in three women have experience physical violence since the age of 15, and one in five have experienced sexual violence.
Telecommunications providers can play a big role in perpetuating this shameful reality, but the industry is not legally required to do anything about it. The Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code, along with an industry guideline called Assisting Consumers Affected by Domestic and Family Violence, is currently voluntary.
For years, advocacy groups, who have witnessed how telco services can be weaponised, have argued that a self-regulated honour system simply doesn't cut it.
99% of victims experienced technology-based abuse
Earlier this year, the Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Nerida O'Loughlin, gave a speech that seemed to shift the tide toward tighter regulation, saying that more than 99% of domestic violence victims "have experienced technology-based abuse as an extension of the coercion and harassment they experience in their daily lives".
O'Loughlin told stories about telcos making abuse victims either show up in person with their abuser at a telco shop or get on the phone with the abuser and the telco provider to end a joint account – one that the abuser had been using to continue the abuse.
Desperate people who need to retain their, or their children's, telco services to remain safe have been threatened with, or indeed subject to, disconnection and debt collection processes
ACMA Chair Nerida O'Loughlin
And there were stories about telcos allowing abusers to buy multiple mobile phones on the victim's account, even though there was an intervention order in place against the ex-partner. When victims tried to put a stop to it, the telcos were no help at all.
"And we see examples where desperate people who need to retain their, or in some cases their children's, telco services to remain safe have been threatened with, or indeed been subject to disconnection and debt collection processes. Now, I can't imagine anyone here thinks these were acceptable responses by any telco, and yet, these examples are not even outliers based on the information we're seeing," O'Loughlin said.
Around the same time as the ACMA speech, Rebecca Glenn, founder and CEO of the Centre for Women's Economic Safety, weighed in on the issue, saying "Not only are victim-survivors experiencing tech-facilitated abuse through devices, they're also experiencing financial abuse through the sale of products and accounts. Unfortunately, the response to victim-survivors from telcos has been inconsistent and generally under-informed."
Government calls for mandatory standards
In October this year, the federal government announced that the voluntary guidelines around telcos and domestic violence will be made mandatory.
"Victim-survivors should not be forced to contact alleged perpetrators when making necessary changes to their telco accounts and services, provide evidence of abuse or tell their often harrowing stories multiple times," said Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland.
The announcement came in the wake of strenuous advocacy by the Consumer Action Law Centre (Consumer Action), which has made this issue a priority in recent years.
Victim-survivors should not be forced to contact alleged perpetrators ... provide evidence of abuse or tell their often harrowing stories multiple times
Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland
Acting director of policy and campaigns at Consumer Action, Luke Lovell, says for too long the organisation "has been hearing harrowing stories from people when their telcos have failed to provide the appropriate assistance and support when they are in very vulnerable circumstances".
Consumer Action has documented cases of telcos standing idly by while perpetrators coerced victim-survivors into signing up for multiple unaffordable telco products.
"They receive no benefit from these at all but are left with the bill, followed by threats of restrictions when they can't afford to pay. Customers in these circumstances cannot afford to be cut-off when a phone is literally a lifeline and essential for their safety," Lovell says.
The voluntary telco codes for protecting victims of domestic violence have proven ineffective.
Keeping abusers out of the process
The rules that the government says will be made legally binding on the industry include:
- training telco staff to recognise and appropriately deal with domestic violence situations
- prohibiting perpetrators from taking part in discussions of telco services with a victim-survivor
- removing requirements for victim-survivors to provide evidence of domestic abuse or tell their story multiple times
- requiring telcos to recognise domestic and family violence as a potential cause of payment difficulties and to consider the impact of any service suspension or disconnection.
Along with Consumer Action, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has long pushed for mandatory telco rules to protect domestic violence victims.
"Too often, the distress of victims of domestic and family violence is worsened by the actions of a telco, when all the individual wants to do is to remain connected," says ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett.
Too often, the distress of victims of domestic and family violence is worsened by the actions of a telco
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett
She says the government's commitment to mandatory standards "raises the bar for the entire industry, ensuring that vulnerable consumers are treated with the care and decency they deserve".
No timeline has been set on when the new mandatory standards will be finalised or take effect.
If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family, or sexual violence, call 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au for online chat and video call services.
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