Help for consumers at risk

We are committed to providing an empathetic and accessible service to those who are left vulnerable or at risk by their access to communications technology.

It’s important to us that we provide timely assistance to help people and businesses at risk resolve their complaints quickly.

How we define ‘at risk’

You may be ‘at risk’ if you are experiencing a crisis such as:

• an urgent medical or safety need
• a risk of losing bank finance
• your business is at risk of incurring a loss
• you need urgent financial hardship support from your provider
• you are impacted by bushfires or another natural disaster.

If you are experiencing one of these crises, it’s important you talk to us about your circumstances so we can adjust how we help.

What steps we may take to help those at risk

If you are at risk, we may:

• Set a shorter timeframe for any urgent issues that need to be addressed, to minimise the impact of those issues and prevent harm.
• Bypass the initial stages of our complaints process, to get you to one of our dispute resolution experts quickly.
• If we need information from you, modify the timeframes and provide additional time to allow you to respond to us.
• Communicate with you in a way that suits you (for example, by phone only or through interpreter services).
• We will exercise our discretion when deciding what options to provide to you. 

How we can help

If your request is urgent or if you are impacted by a natural disaster

Call us on 1800 046 686 or 03 8600 8308 

More information

For more information, refer to our Extra Support and Flexible Approach Policy.