A Brisbane office. Queensland rules on every call.AI receptionist, debtor calls and automation for Queensland businesses.

When AI answers or makes calls for a Queensland business

Recording the call

In Queensland, the Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 makes it an offence to use a listening device to record a private conversation, but section 43(2)(a) says that does not apply where the person using the device is a party to the conversation. So a business can record a call it is on without asking first.

What you do with the recording afterwards is narrower. Section 45 makes it an offence for a party to pass a recording, or a statement made from it, to someone else, unless that goes to another party to the call, is made with the express or implied consent of the other parties, is made in legal proceedings, or falls within the other listed exceptions, such as what is reasonably necessary to protect your lawful interests. Our calls say at the start that the call is recorded, so nobody on the line has to guess.

That is the Queensland rule. A call to someone in another state is a different question, because the recording laws are not the same everywhere.

The national rules still apply

Queensland law sits on top of the Commonwealth rules, not in place of them. The Do Not Call Register, the Spam Act for texts and emails, and the Telemarketing and Research Calls Industry Standard all reach a Brisbane business. Under the Standard, a telemarketing call is not made before 9am or after 8pm on a weekday, before 9am or after 5pm on a Saturday, or at all on a Sunday or on the national public holidays it lists, and the time that counts is the time where the person being called lives. The Standard names a set of national holidays; a Queensland-only holiday such as the King’s Birthday is not on that list, though your own policy may still leave it alone. Which calls count as telemarketing, and what the Register and the Spam Act require, is set out in the Australian AI compliance paper.

One Queensland wrinkle on timing: the state does not run daylight saving. From October to April a Brisbane office and a customer in Sydney or Melbourne are an hour apart, and where the Standard applies, its window follows the clock of the person being called, not yours.

Queensland property managers

Arrears calls and inspection bookings in Queensland work inside the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008, with the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) publishing the forms and guidance. The AI makes the call and books the time. The notices stay with the property manager.

• Arrears. A notice to remedy breach for unpaid rent can be given once the rent has been unpaid for at least 7 days (section 280). The RTA says the notice gives the tenant 7 days to pay (5 in a caravan park), and if it is still unpaid a notice to leave gives at least 7 days (2 in a caravan park). A call in the first week of arrears is a reminder, not a notice, and it should sound like one.
• Inspections. Entry for a routine inspection needs an entry notice at least 7 days before (section 193), not less than 3 months after the previous inspection, and, unless the tenant agrees otherwise, not on a Sunday or public holiday or before 8am or after 6pm (section 195). A booking call that offers a Sunday slot is offering something the Act does not allow without the tenant’s agreement.

How we work a rent roll: for property managers.

The three things we do

What moves each number is on the pricing page.