Some of Australia's contact center industry leaders have joined forces to lobby against a proposed law limiting the ability of Australian companies to offshore services.

In a rarely seen combined voice, the CEOs of Australian contact center companies Salmat, Excelior and Stellar, accompanied by callcentres.net director Dr Catriona Wallace, met with David Lipshutz, Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Stephen Fielding, to lobby against the "Keeping Jobs from Going Offshore Bill". The Bill proposes that under new data privacy laws contact center work will not be offshored to countries such as India, Malaysia and The Philippines. All customers of all Australian-based firms would have to sign an "opt-in".

The Bill particularly applies to work sent to Asian destinations. "We are ok with call center work being sent to countries like the US, as we think they have good privacy laws. This Bill applies to Asian countries." Lipshutz said. Wallace described the proposed law as "highly flawed in its construction and intention". "This Bill, if passed in any form, will damage Australia's international relations, particularly with our Asian neighbours and will have a negative effect on the industry, business and the economy," Wallace said.