Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2026, Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2026

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (18:00): I table revised explanatory memoranda relating to the bills and I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted.

The speech es read as follows— SOCIAL SECURITY AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (TECHNICAL CHANGES NO. 2) BILL 2026 Since this government was elected, we have been hard at work restoring trust in Australia's social security system. This is one of the critical tasks of government. Without this trust, the social security system loses legitimacy in the eyes of the community.

We understand the importance of the social security, family payment and child support systems to all Australians. Help must be available when and where Australians need it most. This Bill builds on the significant improvements the government has made since the 2022 election, restoring fairness and adequacy for many income support and family payment recipients, as well as children and parents supported by the child support scheme.

We have raised the rate of working-age and student payments, providing real increases in the support for low-income Australians. We have increased the annual single rate of JobSeeker Payment by almost $4,000; this is the result of the Government's increase to working age and student payments of $40 per fortnight, along with regular indexation. Commonwealth Rent Assistance maximum rates have increased by over 50 per cent through the Government's real increases in 2023 and 2024 as well as indexation.

We have made sure support is going to those who need it with our changes to Parenting Payment Single eligibility, which has benefitted around 200,000 single principal carers since September 2023. We are expanding Paid Parental Leave to 26 weeks this year, with superannuation now paid on top of Paid Parental Leave. Parents who have a child after today will be able to receive almost $16,000 more through the Paid Parental Leave scheme than when we came to government.

Most recently, through the passage of legislation late last year, the Government increased the small debt waiver threshold for the first time in over 30 years to $250. The threshold will be indexed from today, increasing to $260, and will continue to be indexed annually in line with the changes to the Consumer Price Index. We expect that in 2025-26 alone around 1.2 million undetermined debts will have been waived or not raised at all.

Access to the special circumstances debt waiver was expanded to better protect victim-survivors from coercive social security debt. The waiver can now be applied more widely and more fairly in situations where a person has genuine limitations on their ability to comply with their reporting requirements. This includes cases of family and domestic violence, where a debt arises due to coercion or financial abuse.

In the recent Budget, the Government announced significant reforms to make the child support system safer and more effective for Australian children and parents. The Bill before Parliament today is another important milestone in our efforts to restore the integrity of our social security, family payment and child support systems. This Bill includes measures which resolve some historical legal and compliance issues that have been identified with the operation of these systems.

It builds on work we have already progressed. Over the last two years, the government has passed four pieces of legislation to address historical legal and compliance issues in the social security and child support systems. With these amendments, we have taken action to resolve outstanding legal and compliance issues identified in the operation of the social security, family payment and child support systems.

Many of these issues have been impacting the operation of these critical systems since well before this government was elected. The Bill ensures systems are up to date, working effectively and that people can have confidence in their integrity and the support they can rely on. We need to make sure people have confidence in the safety net so they can take a step forward and take up opportunities.

This is a largely technical Bill, reflecting the need for regular updates to ensure legislation remains up to date. It enables efficient and fair administration for the benefit of people who are supported by the social security and child support systems. The Bill also responds to priorities identified through Services Australia's Legal Compliance and Remediation Program.

Many compliance issues are being resolved simply by operational or system changes at Services Australia. Others require legislation. Minister Gallagher and I are actively responding to these issues as they arise.

This Bill strengthens our social security safety net by ensuring there is legislative clarity in how the social security, family payment and child support systems support people. The Bill includes the following technical changes. Advance Payments Advance payments allow income support or Family Tax Benefit recipients to receive a lump sum advance of their entitlement.

The money is repaid through a deduction of a person's future payments. Advance payments are an important part of the social security and Family Tax Benefit systems, with approximately 2.7 million advance payments being granted in the 2024-25 financial year. The Bill makes technical changes to provide legal certainty for Services Australia's administration of advance payments and continue current service delivery arrangements.

We are removing outdated provisions related to social security and Family Tax Benefit advances, including the requirement for Services Australia to be satisfied that the repayments won't cause the person to suffer financial hardship. This allows people to continue to access advance payments when they need it most and at a time and place that suits them. We are also aligning Mobility Allowance debt recovery provisions with the usual debt raising practices for social security and Family Tax Benefit advances, improving legislative consistency across the social security system.

Pre-issue Income Data The Bill makes technical changes to ensure that Services Australia can use income data supplied by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) before a notice of assessment is issued. This is known as pre-issue income data. For 99.8 per cent of people, their income information doesn't change once a notice of assessment is issued.

Pre-issue income is used for child support, Family Tax Benefit, Single Income Family Supplement and Child Care Subsidy purposes. The Bill allows Services Australia to use pre-issue income data to finalise or reconcile Family Tax Benefit or Child Care Subsidy payments and administer the child support scheme, rather than having to rely on tax-assessed income information.

It also ensures that people's incomes can be updated if Services Australia receives new income data. The amendments ensure that Services Australia can make accurate payments for families seeking assistance, and make accurate and timely child support assessments. This aligns with Services Australia's current practices.

It will allow claims to be assessed as early as possible based on pre-issue income data supplied by the ATO, rather than having to wait longer for the final tax-assessed amount. The small proportion of cases where there is a difference between the pre-issue income data and the final tax-assessed amount are corrected through reconciliation processes or automatic adjustments.

These changes will ensure child support assessments are timely and accurate and protect child support debt collection opportunities through the tax-refund interception process, which collect around $41 million in child support debt owed to children a year. The Bill also includes the following amendments to improve the operation of the social security, family payment and child support systems.

Amendments to family payment law to improve the appeals process through the Administrative Review Tribunal for recipients of Family Tax Benefit. This will reduce the administrative burden placed upon Services Australia, the Tribunal and the individual who has appealed a decision. Technical changes to ensure there is legal clarity for Family Tax Benefit recipients and their obligations around Family Tax Benefit reconciliation conditions and non-lodgement provisions.

This will ensure the law aligns with Services Australia's current processes. Changes to child support law to allow Services Australia to continue to use an automatic process for the determination of provisional incomes used in child support assessments. Ceasing this process would cause extensive delays in the creation and updating of child support assessments, increasing the risk of child support debt and overpayments.

Amendments to allow a merits review of decisions to offset income tax returns against Family Tax Benefit debts. This will ensure these decisions have consistent review options to other decisions in the family payment system. Technical changes to ensure a parent's Paid Parental Leave superannuation contribution is calculated correctly if they have been paid by their employer and a debt later arises.

This will ensure the correct amount of superannuation will be paid into their superannuation fund. Amendments to the operation of urgent payments in the social security system to align with the design of Services Australia's service delivery arrangements. This will improve service delivery arrangements for recipients including reducing the number of calls a person needs to make to Services Australia.

All the amendments contained in this Bill, while technical in nature, will ensure the social security, family assistance and child support systems can better operate as intended. Together, they continue our work restoring trust in Australia's social security system and ensuring our safety net provides the assistance people need. TELECOMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (UNIVERSAL OUTDOOR MOBILE OBLIGATION) BILL 2026 The Albanese Government is committed to keeping Australians connected.

We believe in a simple principle: no one held back, no one left behind. Access to telecommunications is not a luxury, it's an essential service that underpins public safety. Australians rely on mobile phones for their connectivity more than ever.

However, Australia's longstanding Universal Service Obligation does not include mobile services. The Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation will change that. For the first time, our national mobile network operators, Telstra, Optus and TPG will need to provide reasonable access to outdoor baseline mobile coverage across Australia on an equitable basis.

This will initially require providers to support voice and SMS services. Many thought it would never be possible to deliver mobile coverage across Australia's vast inland areas, but the advent of new, Low Earth Orbit Satellite (LEOSat) Direct to Device technology, will make it possible. Within the next couple of years, Direct to Device—or 'D2D'—coverage will be able to provide baseline outdoor coverage in areas outside terrestrial coverage, allowing people to seek help if they are lost, injured, or facing natural disasters in areas without traditional terrestrial mobile coverage.

As National Farmers Federation President Hamish McIntyre has said today—this is a world first policy and we could become the gold standard for regional communications—that is our goal and that's why we have introduced this legislation. Some would say we should wait until the technology is widely available before legislating the UOMO. But to wait would mean leaving rollout decisions to industry alone, and risk some Australians being left behind.

The Albanese Government is legislating the UOMO now to ensure baseline mobile coverage is widely available and available as quickly as possible. The UOMO is not about replacing traditional mobile coverage with new technology. It will complement existing networks, so that we cover as much of Australia as possible and enable the community to benefit from new technology.

The Government will continue to invest in communications infrastructure and resilience in regional and rural Australia, including through the $1.1 billion Better Connectivity Plan. The plan includes successful initiatives like the Mobile Black Spot Program, the Mobile Network Hardening Program, the Regional Connectivity Program, the On Farm Connectivity Program and the Broadcasting Resilience Program.

We have also provided significant funding to upgrade the NBN in regional, rural and remote Australia, including upgrading fixed-line areas with more resilient fibre services and expanding the fixed wireless footprint. NBN Co's partnership with Amazon's Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, will ensure city-quality broadband is available within the NBN's satellite footprint.

Additionally, the Albanese Government's $68 million package of measures to support First Nations digital inclusion will further contribute to improving digital participation in First Nations communities—a critical step towards achieving Target 17 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The new baseline connectivity which will be delivered by the UOMO will help improve public safety and mean better access to emergency services and support, particularly in regional and remote areas outside terrestrial mobile coverage where no access to triple zero is possible unless people are calling from a home phone.

Turning to the specifics of the Bill, the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025 establishes the framework for the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation. The Bill extends the existing Universal Services framework which currently encompasses the reasonable provision of fixed voice services and pay phones to include outdoor mobile services.

It will apply to all three national mobile operators- Telstra, Optus and TPG. There is one Schedule to the Bill, comprising two parts which together amend the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 (TCPSS Act) to incorporate the UOMO into the existing universal service regime. The Bill also makes minor amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 andthe Telecommunications Act 1997.

Part 1 of the Bill sets out measures to extend the existing universal services regime outlined in the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 to include the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation. The objective is to ensure mobile coverage is reasonably available outdoors to all people in Australia on an equitable basis. The concept of reasonableness deals with situations where it may not be possible for a mobile operator to supply a designated mobile service that provides mobile coverage at a particular area.

There could be several reasons for this, such as technical limitations, temporary interruptions to the availability of wholesale services, temporary outages, and a choice by a consumer not to purchase an appropriate handset or plan to access UOMO services. The aim of the overarching obligation is that end-users of Designated Mobile Telecommunication Services can be used outdoors at locations where it is reasonable to expect them to be able to be used.

ACMA will be responsible for the enforcement of the UOMO. The Telecommunications Act 1997 provides it with powers to take enforcement action, including to investigate breaches, issue infringement notices, impose sanctions and penalties for non-compliance. ACMA would also be responsible for the enforcement of any UOMO standards, rules or benchmarks that may be applied to services.

I note that ACMA already fulfils this role in relation to existing universal service arrangements. The Bill includes a power for the Minister to determine circumstances when it would not be reasonable to make mobile coverage available, or matters to which regard must, or must not, be had in determining whether mobile coverage is reasonably available outdoors.

This Part also incorporates designated mobile telecommunications services into the list of public interest telecommunications services. At the time of commencement, the designated services will be voice and SMS. The UOMO will apply to the general Australian outdoor mobile coverage area, which includes all states and mainland territories, and the eligible external territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

This is the area in which mobile operators will be expected to provide mobile coverage to meet the obligation. There is one specified exception, being the Australian Radio Quiet Zone in Western Australia. The Bill also provides the Minister with power to determine an area via legislative instrument.

This could be required if an area needed to be excluded from the UOMO, had specific needs or one mobile operator was unable to service it. The Bill includes a default commencement date of 1 December 2027, at which time all three mobile network operators will be obligated to ensure that baseline mobile coverage is reasonably available outdoors throughout Australia.

A default date provides a clear signal to the market of the importance of equitable and accessible outdoor mobile coverage, and that the intention of government is to see services provided as soon as feasible. However, the Bill also creates a flexible framework where the scope and timing of the UOMO can be adjusted, by legislative instrument, in response to market readiness and extended as technology evolves.

There is also flexibility in the Bill to split the voice and SMS obligations should that be necessary due to market conditions at the commencement of the obligation. The Bill is technology-neutral with mobile operators expected to leverage their existing and future terrestrial mobile infrastructure, as well as Direct to Device technology delivered by LEOSat platforms outside areas of mobile coverage.

Terrestrial mobile coverage provides mobile phone connectivity through land-based cellular antennae, connecting mobiles within the range of mobile phone infrastructure (such as a mobile network towers). D2D uses LEOSats to provide mobile connectivity direct to mobile handsets. This requires a direct line of sight to the sky to enable handsets to communicate with the LEOSats, but does not require a fixed dish or base station at the consumer's end.

Mobile operators are already considering and negotiating arrangements with Direct to Device providers. Telstra has a commercial D2D SMS service available in Australia. Optus and TPG have announced plans to introduce D2D.

Ultimately, the Bill recognises D2D is still an evolving technology, which will become increasingly available. There are no financial impacts from this Bill, though I note that the Bill will enable the Government to use funds in the Public Interest Telecommunications Services Special Account to support contracts or grants for the UOMO that maximise public interest outcomes.

This will provide flexibility to deal with emerging issues after implementation and reflects the long-standing policy principle that the telecommunications industry should contribute to the costs of delivering universal telecommunications services. Part 1 also includes amendments to the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 to provide Ministerial powers to set standards, rules and benchmarks for UOMO services.

Part 2 of the Bill creates a separate additional Ministerial power to set standards, rules and benchmarks relating to mobile services prior to the UOMO default commencement day if required. The ability to make standards is essential to ensure that the Government can respond if the market fails to deliver quality or equitable mobile services. This is consistent with arrangements under the existing universal services framework.

While the UOMO provides the underlying framework for baseline connectivity that can support Triple Zero access, the Bill does not explicitly reference access to an emergency call service as a requirement for the mobile operators to meet the Bill's objectives. This is because there is a longstanding requirement for providers of public mobile telecommunications services to provide equitable access to Triple Zero.

This is governed by the rules set out in the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2019, made under Part 8 of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999. Any voice services carried by public mobile telecommunications services are currently captured by the Emergency Call Service Determination 2019. As voice services will need to be supplied outdoors to fulfil the UOMO, the Emergency Call Service Determination 2019 will apply to mobile telecommunications services offered and supplied in compliance with the UOMO.

Accordingly, this means the UOMO will support access to Triple Zero regardless of the technology used to supply voice services to consumers. Public consultation on the exposure draft of the Bill took place from 18 September 2025 to 19 October 2025. There were 88 submissions on the Bill from industry, individuals, consumer representatives, state and local governments.

Submissions included the mobile network operators, Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, National Famers' Federation and ACCAN. The Government has worked closely with stakeholders in drafting the Bill, and I would like to thank This Bill will modernise Australia's universal service arrangements to provide equitable access to basic mobile coverage outdoors and provide all Australians greater access to essential telecommunications services, improving public safety and ensuring critical new technology is available as widely and as equitably possible.

I commend the bill to the House. Debate adjourned. Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.