18 October 2024

TRANSCRIPT

Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson interview with Rick Hind.

ABC Radio Darwin

Subjects: small and farming business need to act before the 3G shutdown on 28 October, what small business can do if shut out of digital platform account, panel discussing free mental and financial health support for small business in Darwin on 22 October

Rick Hind

Back when we were booging to Lou Bega's Mumbo No 5 in 1999, in the back of our minds there was a baseline anxiety at the end of the year: my car won't start, planes will fall out of the skies, I won't be able to play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater anymore. The Millennium Bug. It didn't have a bite in the end. But with that, we can boldly predict that the closure of the 3G network will probably impact our lives more than that did. We are joined by Bruce Billson, the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. Bruce, thanks for joining us on 105.7, ABC Radio Darwin.

Bruce Billson

Rick, awesome to be with you. What a great throwback to those exciting times when we ticked into the new Millennium. 

Rick Hind

I was on-call expecting disaster across Australia and the Pacific as a news journalist and yeah, it was a very quiet night for me. 

Bruce Billson

Some of your younger listeners, they might be thinking what are these two old farts talking about? There was worry that certain clocks and dates on computers might have only had two digits, and it got from 99 and went to zero for the year and what would happen? It was a time of anxiety, and frankly, didn't amount to much in the end.

Rick Hind

It was a damp squib, but businesses are being urged to check their tech when 3G wraps up. What are we looking for here? 

Bruce Billson

Well, this is very real, and unlike the Millennium excitement, where there was an awful lot of awareness and concern and not much happened, this is actually the opposite. This is where the 3G network that Telstra and Optus have been operating is due to be shut down in just a handful of days, and people think about handsets, telephone handsets, and mobile phones, and think, oh, yeah, mine's not a 3G, I’ll be okay. People are being urged to check that and upgrade if they need to. Or even if they've got a 4G phone, some functions on it operate on 3G such as emergency calls because, as you and I would know, being technical experts, the 3G signal reaches further, and that's really important in regional and rural areas. So that message is kind of getting there, but there's still tens of thousands of people with 3G phones who are going to have a great big Oh, my goodness, what's happened when the network shuts down in just a handful of days? 

But what's less obvious is there's a whole bunch of business technology systems and kit for small, family and farming businesses that actually have a wireless communication function that's powered by 3G. And so that's less obvious. You think about what the kit does, its contribution to your business or your farming operations. You don't think about, well, how does the signal from this box get to some base station or somewhere else that's part of that functioning of that equipment. That is where we're concerned that not enough attention has been given. 

And that's why we're saying to people, check your tech. Don't be caught short when the 3G network’s cut off. 

Rick Hind

And it could be security systems as well. CCTV, tracking tools. Just using the most robust, widest ranging technology, which was for so many years, was 3G and you might not have updated that tech and still relying on the old server that might no longer be there at the end of the month. 

Bruce Billson

Particularly for folks that are out of town, where distance, reach, matters. 3G’s got a longer reach. It carries less data. You want to download a video on 3G, you'll wait for a week to get five minutes. But the signal will reach a long way. But from October 28 it's no longer going to be there. And a range of things, even older style EFTPOS machines, those black square pads that you use to pay to get out of car parks and things like that on vending machines. There's also examples of monitoring equipment, both medical and security. And a lot of businesses use technology for tracking assets. And some farming people use it to check micro-climate, water levels, trough levels, gates open and shut. These sorts of things will just not work after the 28th of October if their comms link is 3G and it hasn't been upgraded to 4G or 5G. 

Rick Hind

What can you do about it? Is Telstra doing enough in this?

Bruce Billson

They started an advertising campaign after, I must confess, I cracked a bit of a sooky-la-la over it because I was just meeting so many people that weren't alert to the fact the 3G network was getting turned off. And at the time, there was over an MCG crowd, full house, 100,000-plus people still relying on 3G on handsets. Now, that's improved in terms of mobile phones and the like. But what's less obvious, and where there's still a need to do a lot of work in a bit over a week, is reminding people that 3G is not just about your mobile phone. It's about this technology, these systems, these bits of kit that are important to business. 

So, what can you do about it? Well, one thing, if you can find out yourself, that's a good start. But if you're in doubt, ring the people that you bought the technology from. I know some of the card payment system providers have been up and about, and you know they've had varying responses like, Oh yeah, okay. Well, thanks for letting me know with people not realising they won't be able to take a payment after the 28th of October if they don't upgrade. 

In other examples, like surveying equipment. I mean, who doesn't love a theodolite. Even the word’s fantastic. That’s been replaced by what's called total stations, where they survey property and property boundaries and the like. Well, a lot of the those have 3G as their comms links, and I know the providers of that technology have been up and about saying to their clients, hey, you know you might need to upgrade. 

So, my message is, if you're not sure, check. If you can't get an answer from the owner's manual or what's on the equipment itself, ring the people that sold it to you. And even a message, a shout out to those third party vendors of systems and technology that rely on 3G, how about as a bit of a customer service initiative why don’t you reach out to your client base and just let them know that 28 October is D-Day for 3G.

Rick Hind

It's been moved before should it be moved back a bit more so that we don't run into these problems?

Bruce Billson

Look, I got asked that by the Senate, Rick, and I said, if nothing's going to change, it doesn't make much sense. What needed to change was a really aggressive public education program to alert people to these things. And to some extent, that started, but the particular focus has been on mobile phones. It hasn't, probably landed well enough, in my view, on those pieces of equipment and systems that rely on3G. I talk to people about and they go, I hadn't thought of that. And then, you know, find medical monitoring equipment. Even those phones that are in lifts and elevator, are often 3G. This is where trying to get people to check this stuff out in advance is really my message, and I'm grateful for your interest in it today.

Rick Hind

It is a tricky consideration. Another tech concern for business is around social media. We all know someone who's been hacked. I've been hacked, but the stakes are higher for a small business. What cases are coming through over the big digital platforms?

Bruce Billson

It's the biggest growth area of cases and requests for assistance coming to my office. For your listeners, they might not be aware, I'm the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. The acronym is ASBFEO – so think of an Amazonian foot fungus, and your kind of getting close.

Rick Hind

ASBFEO. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it.

Bruce Billson

One of the things we do is we provide assistance to small and family businesses having disputes with other businesses or even government. And the fastest growing area for us are where small businesses have a have an issue with a digital platform. And this is where they might be hacked and that might shut down their own access to their own website. Now, if they're on Meta Marketplace, that might be their only channel to talk with and delight their customers, Rick.

And if you get that shut down, what are you going to do? And this is particularly important for businesses in the Territory that are selling into a much wider market. They can't necessarily have an outlet in every capital city, but they can have a really good presence, a good digital platform presence, and that can be the real driver of their business. 

So, if they lose control of that, if they're hacked, if the account’s shut down, that can be really troubling. And if it takes weeks and months to get it fixed, that can be devastating to the business. The hackers can sometimes take over those accounts. They start posting really weird stuff that makes customers think, hey, what's going on here? They might start pimping crypto or all sorts of stuff, and get involved in in some other scam activity. 

And for people that have got a credit card attached to their little Marketplace account so that they can push and promote and market and then have it paid for via that attached payment system, they can lose control of that and start seeing their own money going out the door promoting some weird crypto scam or something else. 

Problem is, though, you go to those platforms and they tell you to get into your account to tell us that you can't get into your account.

Rick Hind

Where's the Meta complaints line? You're not just anyone Bruce Billson. You're the ASBFEO. Do you have a phone number for Meta. Is there someone you can ring?

Bruce Billson

That’s what we do. We have a channel. We've said to these big platforms, not just at Meta, but Uber and others. You risk having some other scheme imposed that's going to cost you a lot of money and be slow, unless you can work effectively with us and get these problems solved and solve quickly. So, we have some channels into those organisations that that help us solve problems where the small or family business relying on those platforms can't get a satisfactory outcome. We get on our bike and we help. 

Rick Hind

So, if you run into problems, you should get in touch with the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. What's the best and quickest way to do that, Bruce?

Bruce Billson

www.asbfeo.gov.au and you’ll have ASBFEO on your mind all day. There’s a song in that. Not as good as Mambo. ASBFEO, way to go…

Rick Hind

We can put that to the tune, let's see what we can do on 105.7 ABC Radio Darwin. Now these experiences where your business, Facebook link has been hacked, can't be good for your mental health. You'll be in Darwin next week for October Business Month, Bruce. What could help in those chats? 

Bruce Billson

Well, it's gonna be huge. We're part of an initiative called Taking Care of Business means Taking Care of Yourself, and you touched on those emotional impacts. There's a free panel session being held in Darwin. It's very exciting, at the Darwin Innovation Hub next Tuesday (22 October) at six o'clock. We're going to have a whole bunch of providers of free support and services. Beyond Blue are going to be there, the Small Business Debt Helpline, Supply Nation really driving good outcomes for our indigenous-led businesses. I'll be there. It's going to be bigger than Ben-Hur, but you do need to register. So, jump onto that website, that Amazonian foot fungus, asbfeo.gov.au , there's a ticker across the top, register for that. It'll be a great event, hopefully a lot of take-home value for people, and it's also available online for those that might find it hard getting to the Territory’s capital for that event next Tuesday. 

Rick Hind

Well, contact ASBFEO. Maybe Bruce, you need to get in contact with Lou Bega, and see if you can have some copyright issues there, because ASBFEO, I feel, can in some ways rhyme with Mambo. I'll leave that with you. 

Bruce Billson

I'm with you, brother. I'm trying so hard to keep a cap on my rhythm as we speak. Good tip.

Rick Hind

Bruce Billson is the ASBFEO, the acronym of the day. Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. Thanks Bruce.