The Australian Government has come under fire from the Institute of Public Affairs over its response to the digital platforms inquiry, with the institute condemning the Government for a “disgraceful attack” on free speech.

More than 30,000 consumers and small businesses complained about their phone and Internet services - with many complaining about problems with their bills and the quality of customer service - over a three month period to the end of September this year, according to the latest complaints report from the Telecomunications Industry Ombudsman.

A year after introducing strict new complaints-handling requirements, the telecoms regulator ACMA has released data showing telcos received a total of 1.4 million complaints over the full 2018–19 financial year - but concerns over telcos providing "late or inaccurate data" have resulted in the authority excluding the data provided by Optus from its report.