Is AI outbound calling legal in Australia?
Yes. An AI agent can make outbound calls in Australia, but it is held to the same rules as a person. Sales calls fall under the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 and the Telemarketing and Research Calls Industry Standard 2017, which counts a synthetic voice as a voice call. Collections calls are governed by the ACCC and ASIC debt collection guideline. Nothing in these rules exempts a call because software placed it.
Updated
Sales calls: the register, the hours, the script
A telemarketing call to a number on the Do Not Call Register needs the person's consent, express or reasonably inferred from an existing relationship. Express consent given without a set period lasts three months. Beyond the register, the Industry Standard sets rules for every telemarketing call:
- Hours: weekdays 9am to 8pm, Saturdays 9am to 5pm, never on a Sunday, and not on national public holidays such as Christmas Day, Good Friday or Anzac Day. Local time at the person's address.
- Identification as soon as the call starts: the business, who caused the call, and why it is calling. A call made solely by a synthetic voice is excused only from giving a personal first name.
- Ending: the call stops immediately when the person asks, or makes clear they don't want it to continue.
- Caller ID: the calling number must be shown, never blocked.
Collections calls: contact limits
Calls about a debt are not telemarketing, but the ACCC and ASIC debt collection guideline sets limits that matter more for an automated dialler. It recommends contacting a debtor no more than three times a week or ten times a month, counting calls where contact is actually made. Telephone contact should fall between 7:30am and 9pm on weekdays and 9am and 9pm on weekends, local time, and not on national public holidays. The guideline also warns that a dialler re-queuing a number in quick succession can amount to undue harassment.
Does the caller have to say it's an AI?
We are not aware of an ACMA rule that requires a telemarketing call to disclose that the voice is automated. The OAIC's guidance on commercially available AI products recommends that public-facing AI tools be clearly identified as such, and we recommend disclosing it. People take it better than discovering it. From 10 December 2026, privacy policies must also describe decisions made by computer programs that could significantly affect someone.
The Industry Standard is scheduled to sunset in April 2027. We will update this page when its replacement is made.
How LYRIQ handles it
Calling windows, contact limits and the opening script are configuration in AgentConnect. They hold on every call rather than depending on someone remembering them. Every attempt is written to a record you can produce if conduct is ever questioned. This page is a summary, not legal advice.
Go further
- AI Outbound Calling: outbound sales and collections calls that stay inside these rules by configuration.
Sources
- ACMA: Using the Do Not Call Register (industry overview)
- Telecommunications (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2017
- ACCC and ASIC: Debt collection guideline for collectors and creditors (2021)
- OAIC: Guidance on privacy and the use of commercially available AI products
- OAIC: APP guidelines, chapter 1 (automated decisions)
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