In 'Getting to fair: breaking down barriers to essential services', the Essential Services Commission is the first regulator in Australia to develop a broad strategy to address issues for customers experiencing vulnerability.
The forum heard from Victoria’s energy and water ombudsman Cynthia Gebert who reflected on the need to hear directly from consumers to turn the strategy’s themes into meaningful action. She encouraged everyone – from businesses to consumer groups and all levels of government – to get involved, saying it will only happen if we all play our part and step up.
Pat McCafferty from Yarra Valley Water said the coronavirus pandemic shone a light on weaknesses in our support systems noting that while help is available, it’s not always easy or efficient to access. He said reaching out to customers early is a win for everyone, keeping a lid on bad debt and minimising harm.
The group also heard from Sarah McNamara, chief executive at the Australian Energy Council who welcomed the move to address barriers to support for customers experiencing vulnerability. She said a genuine voice for industry is needed to ensure the final strategy is targeted and proportionate to helping those most in need.
Gerard Brody from the Consumer Action Law Centre said the commission was leading the way nationally in adopting this approach. He said while fairness, accessibility and inclusion are the right themes to focus on, the commission also needs to consider better regulatory interventions to address the issues facing consumers.
Chairperson’s notes
Please note, this is a summary not a verbatim transcript.
Welcome to today’s event to discuss the launch of our ‘getting to fair’ draft strategy.
To start, I would like to make an Acknowledgement of Country.
I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land I am hosting this forum on - for me that is the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations.
I also acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the various lands you are on today, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples participating today.
I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present, and emerging, and the Elders from other communities who may be here today.
Introductions
Today is the cumulation of more than a year’s work. Today’s guest speakers include:
Cynthia Gebert, Victoria’s Energy and Water Ombudsman
Gerard Brody, Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Action Law Centre
Sarah McNamara, Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Council
Pat McCafferty, Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water.
My fellow commissioners Simon Corden (the strategy’s sponsoring commissioner) Sitesh Bhojani and Rebecca Billings. CEO John Hamill and members of the commission’s executive and staff.
We have had over 200 people register for the forum (130 joined live) and included representatives from:
Energy and Water Ombudsman of Victoria and Queensland
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
the Australian Energy Regulator
Department of Environment Land Water and Planning
Department of Health and Human Services
members of the community help sector, including Vincent Care, Salvation Army, Justice Connect, Anglicare, Uniting Care
representatives from the telecommunications and banking sectors
representatives from energy and water businesses.
Getting to fair - background to the strategy
The commission has always had a commitment to addressing the barriers to accessing essential services. We have been proactive in this area for many years, most notably through the payment difficulty framework in the energy sector and assistance for consumers affected by family violence.
But at the end of 2019 we identified the need for greater consistency and a more comprehensive approach to this work. Specifically, that developing a strategy to address vulnerability was a priority for us, and in need of further examination.
The pandemic, along with the bushfires of late 2019–early 2020, gave our work a clear sense of urgency. It also elevated our realisation of the impact we can have on helping break down the barriers to essential services.
Starting with problem definition
To clearly identify the nature and extent of the problem we conducted a series of research and engagement projects to better understand the experience of vulnerability across our regulated sectors. This included:
a deliberative community panel with 37 Victorians who reflected on the experience of vulnerability in the community
a stakeholder reference group which included representatives from groups we have not regularly engaged with before
research from the University of Melbourne on universal and inclusive engagement
We also continued our ongoing conversations and collected information on emerging issues through:
energy and water industry workshops
community sector roundtables
interviews with community workers and financial counsellors
data reports from the energy and water sectors.
We also continued discussions with the Australian Energy Regulator and other government bodies, recognising we are not going to solve this problem alone.
Then we took all that input, and held workshops with leaders and teams from across the commission to develop initiatives to respond to the opportunities, challenges and ideas put forward.
Moving to solutions
Today we are moving on to the next phase in identifying solutions and preferred approaches to addressing consumer vulnerability.
While we welcome your input on all aspects of the draft strategy, we are particularly keen to hear your feedback on the proposed initiatives.
In particular we want to hear feedback on whether the initiatives and measures we have chosen will have the greatest impact and be practical to implement.
In developing the draft strategy, we have tried to strike a balance that honours what we heard through our engagement with real consumers but also understand that we can’t be overly prescriptive.
These are complex problems that need extensive engagement to achieve good outcomes.
We expect this will take extensive collaboration between community, industry and branches of government over time to full realise the benefits of the strategy.
At its core, ‘getting to fair’ introduces a set of goals for the commission’s work that we hope will improve access to essential services for consumers experiencing vulnerability.
It will give us a pathway for consistent, coordinated, and long-term approaches to addressing barriers across all our regulatory functions.
This work sits very close to my heart. It is work that I see changing not just what we do, but how we do it – for the benefit of all Victorians. I am exceptionally proud of how far we have come, and I am looking forward to seeing the next phase of this work.
As we move onto the next stage in the project I want to emphasise that this is a draft strategy.
We want to hear your ideas so we can refine and move on to a final strategy.
We are particularly keen to hear from our industry stakeholders and will be holding industry-specific workshops over the next month. You can submit feedback via Engage Victoria, emails or calls. So please reach out.
The draft strategy is available for feedback on Engage Victoria until Sunday 6 June 2021.
A water industry workshop is being held on 24 May. Other industry specific workshops are also being planned.
