Public access to reasoning behind the regulator’s major decisions
Major decisions made by the ACCC, the AER and the ORR are accessible to the general public via the Internet. Yet, simply making information available is clearly perceived by both regulators as not sufficient to give the public access to why and how decisions can affect consumers. All the regulators take an active role in making information intelligible and usable by the public. For example, the ACCC has developed a suite of Guides for consumers that describe in simple, non-technical language how the ACCC sets rules for the supply of telecommunications services.12 This is part of an effort to inform the public more broadly of the ACCC’s role in the telecommunications sector and allow consumers to gain greater clarity on the complex world of telecommunications services and markets and how the ACCC regulates it. Similarly, the ORR strives to provide quality, trusted information on the performance of the sector, costs and funding as fundamental to enabling customers to understand and therefore make judgements on the quality of services, change in fares over time and level of tax payer funds supporting the railway.
