Transcript: ATA CEO Luke Coleman on ABC Melbourne Drive 6/11/25
ATA CEO Luke Coleman interview: ABC Melbourne Drive with Ali Moore regarding Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence
Presenter Ali Moore
Luke Coleman is a CEO of the Australian Telecommunications Alliance. Luke, hello.
ATA CEO Luke Coleman
Hi, thanks for having me on the program.
Ali Moore
Can you explain how these changes are going to work? Because it’s not just Telstra, is it? It is telecommunications-wide legislation?
Luke Coleman
That’s right. So, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which is the regulator for the telco sector, introduced a new standard. It’s called The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Industry Standard. It started on the first of July this year, and it puts a range of new obligations on telcos to protect victim-survivors of D.F.S.V.
Those things include things like reversing a disconnection, if a service has been disconnected, or suspended or restricted in any way to ensure that those people stay connected. It could also include only contacting people through agreed contact methods. It could also include hiding sensitive information, such as if a person has been calling a helpline like 1800-RESPECT to make sure that doesn’t appear on their phone bills. It includes making sure that staff are appropriately trained to recognise and support victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence. It also includes limitations that telcos cannot ask a victim-survivor to engage with an alleged perpetrator to resolve their issues.
You might have circumstances where you’ve got an account holder and another user of that account, there has been an allegation that someone is a perpetrator, and so the Telco needs to resolve that to ensure that the victim-survivor stays connected, that they can have their own account set up separate from the alleged perpetrator – and so that’s what we’re going into Here with the new terms that you would have seen coming out from Telstra. This is just to enable Telstra, and all Telcos for that matter, to ensure that these new rules are put in place and adhered to.
Ali Moore
From what you’re saying there makes absolute sense – if there is a joint account, or there’s some sort of joint arrangements, that can be untangled. My question would be, on the basis of what? So what, are we talking if the alleged perpetrator is charged? Are we talking if someone walks into the store and says, this is my situation? Like, what is it based on? And secondly, just the word you are saying, of what came out from Telstra, we may terminate your service without notice if you are alleged to have committed domestic or family violence. Again, what does that mean? Does it mean you need a police report? Does it just work on the assessment of the person in store, which would raise serious questions for me about their ability to assess these situations?
Luke Coleman
There is a requirement in the new standard that a telco must not require evidence. If somebody claims to be a victim-survivor of domestic, family and sexual violence, the telco must act. So there is a requirement not to require evidence there.
Just to clarify the point around the wording in the new customer terms. A telco won’t disconnect a service based solely on an allegation. What this has been designed to do is if you have got an account with a telco, where there might be multiple services connected to that – you might have two people in a relationship that both have a mobile service, for example, but it’s listed under one person’s name – this is simply established to enable the telco to separate and provide a separate account for the victim-survivor, and a separate account for the alleged perpetrator. I do use the word alleged there, but you will not be disconnected based solely on the allegations. Telcos also have a requirement that they must not require evidence.
Ali Moore
And I understand Telstra’s just recently given us an updated statement. But, Luke Coleman, that, what you’ve just said and what Telstra’s said in its statement is not what they said to me in an email last night telling me their new terms and conditions. None of that qualification is there. So, I’m just trying to, do you think, I mean, do you think that they’ve not done a good job of communicating this?
Luke Coleman
I think we’re seeking to clarify why it’s been communicated that way. If you’ve got multiple people on an account, those separate accounts need to be established as part of Telstra’s process. They need to verify that the person is the authorised user before they can transfer that service into their own name to help the victim-survivor.
Now, the reason that it’s been established this way – Telcos also have their have legal requirements to verify users of accounts. That could create a conflict situation where you’ve got an allegation that one person is a perpetrator and that one person is the victim-survivor. This is allowing telcos to set up a separate account for a victim-survivor, and effectively means that you do not create a situation where the victim-survivor has to be in contact with the alleged perpetrator, where they might have to verify those account details – you can just imagine the kind of problems that would create.
Ali Moore
Sure, absolutely. And Luke Coleman, I assume that this change has come with some sort of mandatory or required training?
Luke Coleman
That’s correct, that’s one of the other requirements. The telcos must ensure that staff are appropriately trained to recognise and support victim survivors, so there are specialist teams operating in the large telcos to offer support.
That kind of support could include, and it’s depending on the circumstances, it could be that they review and they may update the contact information and who has access to account details. It could be transferring or taking ownership of a service. It could be removing services that a person no longer needs. It could be moving the address of those services to a new location that the alleged perpetrator does not know the details of that new location. So, there’s a range of things that Telcos will do to offer assistance with specially trained staff to look after victim-survivors.
Ali Moore
Luke Coleman, really good to talk to you and thank you very much for providing that clarification.
Luke Coleman
Thanks for having me on the program.
