Are AI phone calls legal in Australia? What the telemarketing rules say

Yes, AI phone calls can be legal in Australia. No law bans a business from using an AI voice to call people. But an AI sales call gets no special treatment. It falls under the same telemarketing rules as a call made by a person, plus a few extra requirements that apply only to recorded or synthetic voices. If you're thinking about automated outbound calling, the useful question is how to make AI calls that meet the rules your business already has to follow.

This article covers what the law and the regulators actually say. It isn't legal advice. For your own situation, check with the ACMA or a lawyer.

A synthetic voice is still a voice call

The starting point is the legislation. The Do Not Call Register Act 2006 defines a voice call to include a call that involves a recorded or synthetic voice. So an AI agent ringing a consumer is making a voice call under the Act, just as a human caller would be.

The regulator says the same thing in plain terms. The ACMA states that commercial calls made using an auto-dialler, or that use pre-recorded or AI voices, are all telemarketing calls. You can't avoid the rules by calling something a "notification", a "check-in" or a "survey" if it is also selling. The ACMA says that where a call has more than one purpose and one of them is to sell or promote goods or services, the call is commercial and must comply with the telemarketing rules.

In practice, if your AI agent books appointments, qualifies leads, offers quotes or mentions a promotion, plan on it being telemarketing.

The Do Not Call Register still applies

Which numbers are covered

According to the ACMA, home phone numbers, personal mobile numbers and fax numbers can be added to the Do Not Call Register, but a business phone number cannot. A phone used for both work and personal calls can be registered as long as personal use is more than 50% of total use. So a sole trader's mobile on your B2B list could still be registered.

Registration is free, only needs to be done once, and the number stays on the register indefinitely unless the owner or their representative removes it. Lists get out of date fast, even lists you trust.

What registration means for your calls

Once a number has been on the register for 30 days, telemarketers can only call it if the person has given consent or the caller is exempt. The register does not block calls. It lets businesses check their calling lists and remove registered numbers before they call. The checking is your job, not the phone network's.

That's why "washing" your list matters. Calling a registered number is not a breach if you washed your list against the register in the last 30 days and the number was not on the register at that time. An AI agent can work through a list much faster than a human team, so build the wash into your process before any list reaches the dialler, not after.

Exemptions are narrow

Some organisations may still call registered numbers, including government organisations, registered charities, educational institutions where the person is or was a student, registered political parties, members of parliament and election candidates. A typical commercial business is not on that list. Being exempt from the register also doesn't exempt you from the industry standard covered below.

If a vendor makes the calls for you

If you get a third party to make telemarketing calls for you, you must include express provisions in that contract or arrangement requiring compliance with the Do Not Call Register Act. This applies when you use an AI calling platform or an agency running AI calls on your behalf. Check the contract wording, not just the sales pitch.

The telemarketing industry standard: hours, identification and ending calls

The Telecommunications (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2017 sets the day-to-day rules. It applies to anyone who makes or arranges telemarketing or research calls to Australian numbers, including numbers not on the Do Not Call Register, and to organisations exempt from the Do Not Call Register Act. The Federal Register of Legislation lists it as in force and due to sunset on 1 April 2027, so keep an eye out for its replacement.

Calling hours

Unless express consent was given in advance, telemarketing calls must not be made on a weekday before 9 am or after 8 pm, on a Saturday before 9 am or after 5 pm, or on a Sunday. Calls are also banned at any time on New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and on a weekday holiday given in lieu of one of them.

Two details catch automated systems out:

• Time zones: the calling times are measured at the usual residential address of the account holder for the number being called, not where your business or server is.
• State holidays: the standard does not ban calls on a State or Territory public holiday unless that day is already a prohibited day, but it does not exclude State or Territory laws that restrict calling further. Check local rules for the states you call into.

Mobile numbers don't reveal where someone lives, so set your scheduling conservatively when you don't have an address.

Identifying who is calling

As soon as a telemarketing call starts, the caller must give their given name (unless the call is made solely using a recorded or synthetic voice), the business name of their employer, the name of the person causing the call to be made, and the purpose of the call. An AI agent doesn't need to invent a human first name, but it does need to say clearly which business it's calling for and why, right at the start.

If asked, the caller must immediately give the contact details of their employer and of the person who caused the call, and the name and contact details of anyone responsible for handling inquiries or complaints. For calls with recorded or synthetic voices, there's an extra requirement: you must provide a way during the call for the recipient to request those contact and complaint-handling details, for example by pressing a button to talk to an operator. Test that your AI agent can do this reliably, whatever way the person phrases the request.

Ending the call

A caller must immediately end the call if the recipient asks for it to be ended or otherwise indicates they do not want it to continue. That covers more than "please hang up". It includes "not interested", "stop calling me" and an annoyed tone. Your AI agent must not try to keep the conversation going once it hears a clear signal like that. Test this hard before launch.

Caller ID

You must enable calling line identification, and the number displayed must let the recipient call back to find out who called and why, and be reasonably likely to accept return calls for at least 30 days after the call. Hidden numbers or numbers that go nowhere aren't allowed.

Should the AI say it's an AI?

This is where guidance comes in rather than statute. None of the facts above includes a law that specifically requires an AI caller to announce that it's an AI. But Australian regulators and government bodies have been clear about what they expect.

The OAIC's guidance says that when an organisation collects personal information through a public-facing AI system, it should make sure people are aware they are interacting with an AI system rather than a human. It also recommends updating privacy policies and notifications with clear information about your use of AI, including clearly identifying public-facing AI tools.

The National AI Centre's Guidance for AI adoption, written for industry, says people should know when they are interacting with AI. It recommends making disclosure of AI use standard practice, especially where AI can be mistaken for a human being. A natural-sounding voice agent fits that description.

My view: disclose. A short line in the opening, such as "I'm an AI assistant calling on behalf of…", follows the official guidance, builds trust, and avoids the backlash that comes when someone finds out later. Whether other laws, such as consumer law on misleading conduct, apply to your situation is a question for a lawyer.

A practical checklist before you launch

• Decide whether each call type is telemarketing. If any part of it promotes or sells, treat it as telemarketing.
• Record how and when each lead gave consent, especially for registered numbers or calls outside standard hours.
• Wash every list against the Do Not Call Register within the 30-day window, and automate it.
• Set calling windows by the recipient's location, and block national prohibited days and relevant state rules.
• Script an opening that names your business and the purpose of the call, and discloses that it's an AI.
• Make sure the agent can give contact and complaint details, and offer a way to reach a person.
• Test that the agent ends the call straight away when someone signals they want out.
• Display a real callback number that will be answered for at least 30 days.
• Put Do Not Call Register Act compliance in writing in any vendor contract.
• Update your privacy policy to describe how you use AI.

Where Dialessa fits

At Dialessa, we build an AI voice sales agent that calls new leads within seconds, follows up, and answers inbound calls. We designed it around these rules because speed only helps if every call is one you're allowed to make. Whatever tool you choose, ask the vendor to show you how it handles each item on the checklist above, then confirm your own setup with the ACMA or a lawyer.