Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

Written by Space Cadet

Sunday, 09 April 2006

Australians will finally get relief from the nightly barrage of nuisance calls from telemarketers with the formation of a National Do Not Call Register.

On any given weeknight, Australian householders can receive multiple calls from telemarketers, often at the most inconvenient times. Being rude or hanging up does nothing to discourage telemarketers and the strategies we suggested in an earlier article, although amusing, are not completely effective.

On April 4, Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, announced the introduction of much needed legislation to establish a National Do Not Call Register which will apply to all telemarketing calls to Australian homes and small businesses, even if the calls originate overseas. Based on overseas experience, Senator Coonan expects a staggering 1 million registrations in the first week of operation and 4 million in the first year.

The Register and accompanying behaviour standards for telemarketers will be up and running in 2007 and the $AUD 33 million set up costs will be shared by the Federal Government and the telemarketing industry. Householders and small businesses will be able to register their phone numbers for free and, once registered, telemarketers will not be allowed to make unsolicited calls to those numbers. Enforcement measures will range from a slap on the wrist to considerable financial penalties.

Senator Coonan canvassed public opinion on telemarketing by inviting submissions to a discussion paper on the topic in October 2005 and, in response to this, she has drafted the legislation but unfortunately has allowed exemptions to apply to charities and organisations conducting social research. Charities have always been amongst the worst of the telemarketers and we should be allowed to choose not to receive their calls. The simple act of buying a raffle ticket can find you and your telephone number permanently on a charity's telemarketing list and no matter how many times you tell them, politely or otherwise, to piss off, they persist. If the other exemption, social research, is merely a euphemism for market research and we will still receive calls asking us which brand of black, carbonated liquid we prefer to drink then the legislation has not gone far enough.

While allowing these exemptions might pacify the whinging of the charities who rely on telemarketing for a large proportion of their income and the researchers who need to make up numbers for their studies, no-one in their right mind could believe that a household whose number is on the Register still wants their evenings to be interrupted by calls from charities and so-called social researchers. Surely adherence to the Register would save them time and money by preventing them from making unwelcome calls.

The establishment of the National Do Not Call Register is an important step in response to a telemarketing industry that is out of control and will give Australians some peace and quiet in the evenings.

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