The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 requires a telecommunication service provider to keep specific telecommunications data relating to the services it offers for two years (187C). The dataset to be kept includes the subscriber and the accounts of telecommunications devices, the source of communication, the destination of a communication, the date, time and duration of a communication, the type of communication, and the location of equipment or a line used (187AA). This retention scheme was inserted into the Act by the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015.

The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 grants criminal law enforcement agencies the authority to intercept real-time communications of users without the need for a warrant. The Act addresses various types of interception warrants, including an interception warrant (Section 10), a telecommunications service warrant (Section 11A), a foreign communications warrant (Section 11C), and a stored communications warrant (Section 110). However, in cases of emergency (Section 30) or for the purpose of developing and testing interception capabilities (Section 31A), law enforcement officers or agencies may intercept live communications without obtaining a warrant.

Sections 317L-317RA of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (as amended by the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018) provide for a type of notice, called a technical assistance notice, that a security or law enforcement agency can issue to communications providers that require them to take specified steps which would help the agency in relation to its functions relating to national security or enforcing the criminal law. All designated communications providers, broadly defined so as to include not only telecommunications carriers and service providers but any entity that supplies an electronic service (including websites and secure messaging apps), are required to receive a technical assistance notice to provide technical assistance to law enforcement. In other words, certain Australian law enforcement agencies can require a cloud service provider, for example, to decrypt encrypted communications for the purposes of law enforcement. The Telecommunications Act enables law enforcement agencies to require this assistance without a warrant.

Sections 36 and 101 of the Copyright Act contain safe harbour protections for carriage service providers such as Internet infrastructure providers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). To qualify, these organisations must implement mechanisms to enable copyright owners to report infringing content on their platforms and request that action is taken to prevent the infringement (for example, disabling access to the content or terminating the accounts of infringing users).

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability beyond copyright infringement is absent in Australia's law and jurisprudence. It is reported that the basis on which third parties are liable for the actions of individuals online is confusing and, viewed as a whole, largely incoherent. The result is a great deal of uncertainty.

According to Art. 34 of the Telecommunications Act 1997, telecommunications carriers have statutory rights of access to other carriers' towers and ducts, but such access is not mandated. Passive infrastructure sharing is practised in Australia in the mobile sector: co-location is negotiated on a commercial basis. Carriers have regulated rights of access to towers owned by other carriers for the purposes of providing carriage services. The Telecommunications Act 1997 provides for carriers to provide other carriers with access to telecommunications transmission towers, the sites of telecommunications transmission towers and eligible underground facilities. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has made a code which sets out conditions that are to be complied with in relation to the provision of access.
In addition, passive infrastructure sharing is also practised in Australia in the fixed sector: the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has declared the following services: - line sharing service (LSS) - local carriage service (LCS) - fixed originating access service (FOAS) - fixed terminating access service (FTAS) - unconditioned local loop service (ULLS) - wholesale line rental (WLR) - wholesale ADSL service (WADSL). Once a service is declared, a network owner must provide access to the service upon request.

According to Section 8BG of the Telstra Corporations Act 1991 (as amended by Act No. 53 of 1999), foreign ownership of Telstra (the incumbent telecommunication company) is limited to 35% and individual foreign investors are only allowed to own up to 5%.

According to the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011 (Subdivision A, Division 2, Part 3), the Commonwealth must retain full ownership of National Broadband Network Co (NBN Co). In addition, this ownership structure could be terminated only in limited circumstances (Subdivision B).

Starting with the Australian Government Procurement Statement in July 2009, the Federal labour Government enacted a series of measures designed to enhance Australian industry participation in Australian Government procurement. The Statement strengthened the Australian Industry Participation framework by requiring participants in large Commonwealth tenders (generally AUD 20 million (approx. 17.8 million USD) or more) and infrastructure projects to prepare and implement Australian Industry Participation (AIP) Plans. Additional support was provided in the May 2011 Budget to fund greater advocacy for local suppliers under the Buy Australian at Home and Abroad package. The labour Government's Plan for Australian Jobs, in force since December 2013, further extended the requirements for AIP Plans to all major projects with a capital expenditure of AUD 500 million (approx. 344 million USD) or more.
It was reported in 2014 that this scheme "[does not] require the use of Australian suppliers, yet their incremental application reveal[ed] a tendency towards the increased use of subtle restrictions on overseas firms participating in government procurement tenders.
More specifically:
- For Commonwealth Government Procurement of AUD 20 million or more, although bidders need to prepare and implement an AIP plan, AIP plans do not "mandate the use of Australian industry, but rather aim to provide Australian industry with the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities so they can be considered in purchasing decisions."
- For participation in major projects, the Australian Jobs Act 2013 obligates procurement entities "not [to] request bids to supply key goods or services for the project unless the procurement entity has a broad understanding of the capability and capacity of Australian entities generally to supply those goods or services" (Section 35). This does not constitute a requirement to incorporate local suppliers, but it creates a preference for local suppliers for key goods or services for a project.

National Broadband Network Co (NBN Co) is a wholly government-owned enterprise tasked with designing, building, deploying, and operating a high-speed (internet) access network across Australia.

The Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) provide that the Australian Government is committed to non-corporate Commonwealth entities sourcing at least 10% of procurement by value from SMEs and has a target of non-corporate Commonwealth entities procuring 35% of contracts by volume, with a value of up to AUD 20 million (approx. 17.8 million USD), from SMEs (CPRs 5.6, 5.7).
The government response to the ICT Procurement Taskforce's (within the Digital Transformation Agency) final report released in 2013 states that all agencies will be required to report on compliance with (certain) principles as part of their annual report performance statements, which include a metric on the percentage of annual ICT spending on significant projects going to Australian businesses, including a breakdown of the amount going to Australian SMEs.

Australia mandates functional and accounting separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. According to Act No. 47 and the Carrier Licence Conditions Declaration, functional separation is mandated for operators with significant market power. On the other hand, accounting separation is mandated only in some cases: National Broadband Network Co (NBN Co) is required to maintain separate accounts for its different technology units.

The Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), issued in 2015, requires setting aside certain portions of domestic contracts for Indigenous enterprises (IPP 1.2). The IPP, updated in 2020, sets out a target for purchasing from indigenous enterprises for public procurements and a mandatory set-aside to direct Commonwealth contracts to indigenous enterprises (IPP 1.3). The target during the 2021-22 term was set for 1.5%. The IPP applies to non-corporate Commonwealth entities; it is not mandatory for corporate Commonwealth entities (IPP 1.6).

Australia is a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and its commitments also cover the services sectors considered most important for digital trade, namely telecommunication services (CPC 752), telecommunication-related services (CPC 754), and computer and related services (CPC 84).

The Telstra Corporations Act 1991 provides under Section 8BG that aggregate foreign ownership of Telstra (the incumbent telecommunication company) is limited to 35%, and individual foreign investors are only allowed to own up to 5%. This specific cap was imposed in 1999 as part of an amendment to the Act.
Additionally, the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011 provides that the Commonwealth must retain full ownership of National Broadband Network Co (NBN Co) (Part 3, Division 2, Subdivision A). This ownership structure could be terminated only in limited circumstances (Part 3, Division 2, Subdivision B). This rule has been in place since its enactment in 2011.