As one who earned a living for a few years as a real estate salesman, I must say that I got most of my business out of cold calling as it is known in the trade. The trick is to call at times that are not likely to be inconvemient - not when the lady of the house is getting the kids off to school, never during a well publicised sporting event (eg State of origin football), never later than five o'clock in the afternoon etc.etc., and never allow the phone to ring more than five times. In short, I used my brains and never lost sight of common courtesy- any recipient was immediately told my name, firm, and what I wanted and as a result almost all of my calls were received with good will and were terminated amicably. Part of the problem for a good telemarketer is getting away from some recipients - there are a lot of lonely people out there. Remember that telephone selling is a significant modern day economic factor, and the telemarketer is only trying to make a living in a ruthlessly competitive business environment. A final point to those who see rudeness as the answer - always remember that most telemarketers know your name,number and your address. You however do not know theirs!

I'm frankly staggered that the government sees fit to spend our money in this way.

It is the epitome of the nanny state.

Somebody decides that we should be "protected" from some types of phone call, and spends gazillions of our hard-earned money on putting a system in place that, at best, solves a tenth of the problem.

How much has it already cost to put in place, including the man-years and decades of committees, submissions, feasibility studies, consultants' time and other such wastage?

I'd prefer that they spend more of their time and my money on serious issues such as building dams to store water in, or building hospitals for the sick, or even putting together a decent public transport system.

What's wrong with simply putting the phone down, people?

Or let it through to the answering machine. As soon as the call centres hear it, they are off onto their next call - and if the call is from a real person, you can then pick up.

It is a serious question, by the way.

How much has already been spent on this trivial and pointless exercise in nannyism, and how much will it continue to cost every year?

Does anybody know?

Does anybody else get those private phone calls where when you pick up the phone there is no one there or you are hung up on? My family members tell me that they get a lot of them too. My daughter said it is the tele-marketers computer which has dialled your number but the marketer isnt ready so the computer hangs up.

Sometimes I wonder if you hang up on them if they dont set the computer to ring you back and hang up on you to get revenge.

You get your home phone put on for private family use not to be harrassed by strangers you dont know. They should be compelled by law to list their number on the ID screen of the phone not just have private number come up like they do.
I have an old parent who lives alone who has a private number and so I have to answer it in case he is sick or something. Also if the hospital were to ring for any reason their number also comes up as private

Don't be tough on the callers from India or the Philipines. They are just folk trying to earn an honest buck in an economy much more precarious than our own. The point is that all are employed or contracted by companies with a base in Australia. If you feel strongly enough to be rude to these innocents, why not take the extra effort to find out who the Australian companies are and ring THEM up, ask for their marketing department and give them a piece of your mind. I did it once, ringing up the same manager five times in a day and got my message across.

While I do understand some are in the only job they can get I refuse to put up with it.
A reminder my phone is for private calls and that I am offended by the use of it by such comes always.
Then do not ring again and the hang up.
Once a return call came just after I hung up informing me I was rude, after that yes I got ruder!
Twice more the twit rang back and may have forever until I thanked him for both wasting money and saving others from his calls.
Our minister is not impressive in any way.

seems obvious to me: buy a phone that puts the callers number into a computer screening application. list the numbers you want to hear from with the app. for the rest, the app 'picks up' and says "no, thanks" with whatever level of cordiality you wish to display.

no such phone? there soon will be.