This month’s Meet the Member segment features our wonderful Deputy Chair, Brett O’Hara, who is employed as a Senior Network Engineer at Vocus in the Platform Engineering Group.  Brett joined IAA in 2019 after attending IAA events as a guest of a Corporate member to meet and network with people in the industry.  

Brett’s interest in the Internet industry was an extension of his early hobby: messing around with modems and other network gear. Working out how to exchange international email via UUCP locally rather than expensive international calls was a real thrill – he was lucky enough for this to then become a career! 

Throughout his career, Brett has achieved many things. From starting out in a dial-up ISP in the 90s that quickly evolved from PSTN to ISDN to Frame Relay, ATM and ever upwards. Moving from kilobits to megabits and then gigabits in just a few years. These days working at Vocus, he evaluates, selects and deploys new network platforms into their network, as well as manages new features and lifecycles on existing platforms to help Vocus stay on top of new and developing technologies.  

Earlier last week, we released a report “Benefits of the Internet Association of Australia” by Michael Kende – a globally recognised expert economist and thought leader on issues relating to Internet interconnection and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). The report outlines the benefits of Internet Exchange Points, particularly the peering network we provide and other ancillary services that significantly benefit the Australian Internet ecosystem. It considers our broader services and offers an economic perspective on their contribution to the Internet market through cost reduction and much more. If you want to read the full report, you can access it through our website.   

One of our staff members caught up with Michael Malone while hiking on the El Camino de Santiago in Europe! Michael was one of the owners of iiNet when the Association was formed and was one of the significant contributors of hardware and expertise that helped build WA-IX. He recounted what connectivity and the market were like back in the early days of the Internet in Australia and described WA-IX as a cooperative effort more than a profitable venture.   

When asked about initial discussions regarding the exchange, Michael recalled that many WA techs had been talking about it as a peering point for a long time, and everyone knew it would be a good thing. One sticking point was the actual physical location, as the closest organisation would pay less to connect to the IX. He said the most obvious place was in the city as Wantree, OIS, and iiNet were all there, but others like Omen and DialIX were in the suburbs. After much going around, the QV1 location was finally agreed upon!  

Michael recalled that people like Michael O’Reilly, PRK and Patrick from iiNet; Mark and Mick from Omen; Roger Yerramesetti from Wantree; David Luyer at UWA and many others rolled up their sleeves to set up WA-IX. They all volunteered their time to build and maintain the new IX. He also explained that once the IX was built, it became an essential service because the core ISPs and universities were already connected and given that it was mutually beneficial, it was even more compelling for others to join it – pretty much the definition of a network effect.

Michael explained that the IX survived because of good decisions at the beginning, many of which were really just good luck and the power of engineering consensus. The uptake of it increased because of goodwill, the good it did for the community and approaching those who were not connected and asking them, “why not?”. Initially, they ran a couple of conferences that brought people into the same room, which seemed to help, too.  

Michael hopes to see the Association properly funded and continues to bring the Internet engineering community together – to make decisions based on what’s good for the connected community. He would also like to see a place of learning where members can get together and exchange war stories in a fun and casual setting.  

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) released its report on the Department of Home Affairs’ administration and regulation of critical infrastructure protection policies on 21 June 2022, and we’d have to say their assessment isn’t particularly positive. The report made seven recommendations, identifying improvements needed in the Department’s engagement of stakeholders, risk assessments and reporting obligations, performance measurement, and compliance management. 

Regulation of critical infrastructure has been a great focus for the Department in recent years with ‘critical infrastructure’ expanded to include more sectors, and they have been granted greater powers, even including direct intervention with an entity’s systems in certain circumstances.  

IAA has been actively involved in the consultation process for the implementation of critical infrastructure legislation. In our submissions, we consistently called for greater meaningful stakeholder engagement, including sector specific consultation. We also raised concerns that the implementation of the new powers and obligations was premature, and required greater review and thorough analysis to ensure the legislative reforms would ensure real benefits and outcomes. 

ANAO has since found the Department to lack an engagement strategy, and that despite sector specific strategies being developed prior to legislative reforms, “these strategies were discontinued before the reform engagement had concluded.”  

In addition, the Department’s performance measure was found inadequate, due to the measure not establishing targets supported by a verifiable method, not free from bias, and lacking detail on how performance against the standards contribute to achieving their purpose.  

The Department has accepted all seven recommendations to address the issues raised by the audit.  

Telecommunications is one of the sectors newly captured as critical infrastructure as of 2021. In addition to the critical infrastructure legislation, telecommunications is also regulated through the Telecommunication Sector Security Reforms (TSSR) as part of the Telecommunications Act 1997. As such, while the Systems of National Significance declaration power and enhanced cyber security obligations apply to the telecommunications sector under the critical infrastructure legislation, the Department of Communications is developing specific rules and obligations for the telecommunications sector. The sector can also anticipate a review into the TSSR later this year.  

IAA will continue to participate in consultation with government to ensure the implementation of rules for the telecommunications sector that are measured, effective and fit for purpose. 

On 1 June, Communications Compliance Ltd (CommCom)opened the TCP Code compliance attestation page. Currently live, lodgements are due on 1 September 2022, and Carriage Service Providers who provide telecommunications services to consumers (as defined in the Code) are required to submit an annual attestation of their compliance with the Code.  

CommCom is an independent body responsible for overseeing the conduct of the Code Compliance Framework outlined in Chapter 10 of the TCP Code that also promotes compliance with the Code through industry guidance and educational initiatives.