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).

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.

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.

Australia has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 No. 44 establishes that Australia has an independent telecommunications authority, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Division 4 of the Act establishes that the Minister may give written directions to the ACMA in relation to the performance of its functions and the exercise of its powers. However, it is reported that the ACMA is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

My Health Records Act 2012 requires information relating to health records to be stored and processed within Australia unless the records do not include "personal information in relation to a healthcare recipient or a participant in the My Health Record System" or "identifying information of an individual or entity" (Section 77).

Australia is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996 and its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Under the powers granted by the Customs Act 1901, a Commissioner leads the Anti-Dumping Commission, which manages antidumping and countervailing duties. In November 2019, the Commission extended the anti-dumping duties imposed in 2014 on power transformers (HS 8504.22 and 8504.23) against Indonesia and Taiwan for five additional years. The duty rate imposed on imports originating in Indonesia is 28.3%, while for imports originating in Taiwan, it ranges from 2.9% to 8.6%, depending on the company.

Under the powers granted by the Customs Act 1901, a Commissioner leads the Anti-Dumping Commission, which manages antidumping and countervailing duties. In May 2019, the Commission imposed antidumping duties on PCV flat electric cables (HS 8544.49.20) imported from China. The duty rate ranges from 2.8% to 18.9%, depending on the company.

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.

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.