News and Activities from ALS's

May 2008

The Australian ALS for our Region ISOC-AU would like to draw your attention to the following:-

Members of the APRALO should note Cheryl Langdon-Orr's (APRALO 2y term representative to ALAC and Current ALAC Chair), and ISOC-AU’s deep involvement in a new Australian Federal
Government initiative by Department of Broadband Communications and
the Digital Economy…

It is most pleasing to note that the WG members with a * are all Members and/or Member Organisations of ISOC-AU (two being Board Members and one the salary Executive Director) this I think shows what outcomes can be attempted and achieved by open and inclusive multi-stakeholder policy development models, all be it only at a national level.

Yesterdays meeting May 16th as mentioned in the following Govt bulletin, was a full and frank discussion which will act as a foundation for this major exercise and paradigm shift in Policy development and Telecommunications (or as we prefer Communications) Regulation in our country, I will post further updates here as they are released.

Should any other ALS or RALO be interested in learning more, perhaps by using this as a case study for their own use ,please let me know (cheryl(at) hovtek.com.au) and I’ll see what can be arranged.

Cheryl Langdon-Orr - ISOC-AU (May 17th, 2008)

*Department Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy * (reprinted here in full and inclusive of version 2 list clarification posted to the Consumer Forum on 14/05/2008)

CONSUMER BULLETIN

Following the Consumer Representation Forum on 1 May 2008 we continue to receive consistent and overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees.

The Department made an undertaking at the forum to keep all of you informed about the progress of the formation of a new peak body to represent telecommunications consumers. To ensure that everyone can stay up to date, an email bulletin will be distributed at key points during the development process. This is the first bulletin which we hope will provide an overview of the progress that has been made so far.

If you do not wish to receive this bulletin, please advise, by return email and we will remove you from the distribution list. If there is anyone you think may be interested in receiving this bulletin, please advise, also be return email, and we will ensure that they are included.

<><>First bulletin

To take advantage of the consensus for a new peak body, we have embarked an intensive effort over the next few weeks to get agreement on arrangements for a new peak body that will represent the diverse needs of telecommunications consumers by mid June.

Following this, next steps would be:

·May – identify and agree on the overarching arrangements,

·June – identify and address matters of detail ( eg the detailed governance arrangements, liaise with other stakeholders as necessary, etc); and

·July – finalise and agree on these matters and any outstanding matters, including transitional arrangements if required, liaise with stakeholders, prepare submission to the Minister, etc to meet the Minister’s reporting deadline of the end of July.

To achieve this:

·Arrangements to engage Ms Phillippa Smith to facilitate outcomes are expected to be finalised shortly; and an initial working group has been formed, to help ensure an effective outcome.

The members and the organisations which they represent are as follows:

• *Teresa Corbin – Consumer Telecommunications Network (CTN) and Chair of the Communication Alliance Consumer Council

• *Gunela Astbrink – Telecommunications and Disability Consumer Representation (TEDICORE)

• *Ewan Brown – Small Enterprise Telecommunications Centre Limited (SETEL)

• *Cheryl Langdon-Orr – Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) and Deputy Chair of the Communication Alliance Consumer Council

• *Holly Raiche Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU)

• Christopher Newell – Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) and Chair of the Communication Alliance Disability Council

• Sue Salthouse –Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) and Deputy Chair of the Communication Alliance Disability Council

• *Rosemary Sinclair – Australian Telecommunications User Group (ATUG)

• Su Robertson – Communications Law Centre (CLC)

The first of what we expect will be a number of meetings will commence on Friday 16 May.