Liberal Party warned over robocalls

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Liberal Party warned over robocalls

4 yrs ago

The South Australian division of the Liberal Party has been formally warned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for making polling robocalls during prohibited calling times. The calls were made between 6.15am and 7.30am on two consecutive weekdays in July 2019.

“Australians have a right not to be disturbed by these types of calls early in the morning. They can be frustrating for people who are preparing for work and school or expecting contact from family,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

Prohibited calling times are set out in the Telemarketing Industry Standard. They apply to all telemarketing and research calls, including opinion polling. Research calls must not be made on weekdays before 9am or after 8.30pm (or after 5pm on weekends).

“This follows a recent unrelated breach for calling during prohibited times by Lonergan Research. In both cases, automated diallers or platforms were involved,” said Ms O’Loughlin.

In both cases, the entities publicly apologised and quickly took steps to fix the causes of calls being made outside the allowed hours.

“If we see further evidence of research calls during prohibited calling times, we may look at compliance more broadly across the sector,” added Ms O’Loughlin.

The Telemarketing Industry Standard sets out minimum obligations for all telemarketing and research calls, including prohibited calling times, information that must be provided to consumers during calls, and when calls must be terminated.

To make a complaint about telemarketing go to www.donotcall.gov.au or call 1300 792 958.

Have you ever received a robocall at an inappropriate time? Did you make a complaint?

9 comments

Suze

4 yrs ago

What I cannot understand is if we pay for the phone bill

...as to why Politicians,

....charities

....and researchers are allowed to ring us up willy nilly especially if we are on DO NOT CALL LIST.

There is no point to having a DO NOT CALL LIST ...why are we paying these public servants ???

Pisces

4 yrs ago

Yes how about we need to opt in to receive calls instead of being bombarded with unsolicited rubbish. Totally agree the DO NOT CALL Register is useless. And this should include unblockable rubbish on mobiles

On the Ball

4 yrs ago

Please, Please PLEASE!! Check you are in fact ON the do not call register. Yes, I know you applied and checked but this happened to me... Please read..

In the Mall. Spoke to a guy spruiking roller bilnds (or roof paint etc, it doesn't matter). Decided I was interested and I was about to sign up for a free quote. But I wanted to read the fine print. In the fine print was this: "By signing this document you agree to have your phone number removed from the Do Not Call Register." Now I check ALL fine prints.

You would be surprised how many contain the same or similar words.

This is 100% true.

As for unsolicited calls, I never answer my mobile unless I know the number. I never answer my home phone unless I know the number. Both phones will take a message. My message bank message gives no indication to who I am, gender, whether "we" are home or not. If someone wants me they will leave a message. Make sure you have a caller ID unit. DONT answer the phone unless you know the number. Your freinds will understand (then put them in your electronic phone book). And please, NEVER include your phone number when signing up for something on the 'net! Your information is generally sold on to firms that makes squillions out of selling personal data. If they want a phone numner, I find 0123-4567890 works fine.

If everyone did this the telemarketers etc would give up!

Jezemeg8

4 yrs ago

Like many others, I don't answer phone calls from numbers I don't recognize and if no message is left (or the message has begun before it reaches voicemail as when it's a robocall) then I don't bother returning it, thus validating my number. Those that are obviously robocalls are marked as SPAM. I've given up trying to block numbers on my mobile, these callers seem to be able to get around it anyway. If something requires me to enter my phone number (when filling out forms), I don't continue with the form etc. etc.

I registered with DO NOT CALL at it's inception and am still on it, but still receive unwanted calls, so not answering unrecognized numbers is still the most effective way.

Karl Marx

4 yrs ago

Ban ALL robocalls & unsolicited calls from ALL political parties including advertising through social media. If people want to know what certain parties stand for it's not hard to find out through the normal channels.

Pisces

4 yrs ago

And every other unwanted call like so called charities, telcos etc

Tanker

4 yrs ago

Totally agree

Tanker

4 yrs ago

Totally agree

Horace Cope

4 yrs ago

We don't get robocalls because we live in an extremely safe seat and neither major party will waste campaign funds talking to us. As politicians make the laws, I can't see any change to the use of robocalls nor will politicians change the laws about political parties being exempt from truth in advertising to include themselves. All parties have been guilty of lying to voters and I believe that this practice should be eliminated.

pedro the swift

4 yrs ago

I just look at the calling number. If its private or out of state like an 03800 number I just dont answer. If its really someone who needs to talk to me they can leave a message. Unless I feel like having some fun with a "NBN tech" or "telstra service" person.

The Liberal Party are SCUM - period. In any election, the first thing I do is put the bastards LAST on the ballot.

patti

4 yrs ago

I have had robocalls from political parties after 9 pm. I have also had return calls from telco assistance at this time. I don't appreciate it. I'm also on the Do Not Call register, which I guess cuts down on the telemarketers but certainly does not stop them

RnR

4 yrs ago

Agree robocalls are just a giant Pain in the A***.

However, having said that, I'm missing my favourite robocaller ... the dreaded Nicole.

She's been missing in action for over a month now. Such a polite little Robo.

sunnyOz

4 yrs ago

With the last election, I was continually hounded by robo calls, emails and SMS messages from my local Federal Liberal member. Despite repeated requests to take me off the list, they absolutely refuse. I am STILL getting messages. I block them - but then they send from another number. I have even written a letter of complaint to the Complaints Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Didn't even get a reply.

Lucca

4 yrs ago

I get a few, but hey why sweat over it, as long as it's not from the Greens. Then I really would get mad.

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Liberal Party warned over robocalls

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