Australia New Zealand News

Australia and New Zealand collaborate against spam and scam messages

Eliza Sayon Jun 9, 2022

2 min read

A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), enhancing ongoing joint efforts to combat unlawful occurrences of spam and scam between Australia and New Zealand.

The MoU, which was signed on 8 June 2022, was enacted to further promote strategic engagement, facilitate information sharing and enhance compliance and enforcement outcomes.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said Australia and New Zealand have been long-term partners in this space and share many of the same challenges with reducing spam and SMS scams.

“The recent ‘FluBot’ malware scam affected both Australians and New Zealanders, and information sharing with our New Zealand counterparts has aided the ACMA’s spam and scam work,” she said.

“This agreement will see our already-close relationship with our New Zealand counterparts enhanced through more strategic cooperation.”

ACMA research from last year showed that 98 per cent of Australian adults receive unsolicited communications on their phone.

Secretary for Internal Affairs Paul James said the new agreement lifts the already close cooperation between New Zealand and Australia on spam to a new level.

“Phishing campaigns and malware delivered through spam continues to be an increasing challenge globally – working collaboratively with other international jurisdictions is a key way to tackle this issue and protect New Zealanders,” he said.

“Enabling the agencies to share intelligence, techniques and tools for combatting spam, as well as sharing information on phishing and malware delivered through spam demonstrates the close working relationship between the two regulators.”

Both Australia and New Zealand are actively working with key international partners to look for mutually beneficial ways to cooperate.

The MoU follows ACMA entering similar arrangements with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the USA’s Federal Communications Commission.

All four agencies are core members of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network, a global network of regulators and key stakeholders dedicated to tackling unsolicited communications.

The MoU came into effect immediately upon signing and has been published on the ACMA website.

Source: ACMA Media Release

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.