The Australian Government to Require SMS/MMS Sender ID Registraion

Australia is officially coming for shady texts. From 1 July 2026, businesses that want their name to appear at the top of a text message will have to register it first, part of a government push to make scam messages easier to spot. In plain English: if a company wants to text you as “YourBank” instead of a random number, that name now has to be on the official list. And if the details linked to its business number aren’t up to date, good luck getting on it.

But the real fireworks are in the community reaction. One camp is basically yelling, “Finally!” after years of spam chaos. One commenter said scam texts and calls in Australia are so bad that if their phone buzzes, they already assume it’s fake — which is both bleak and painfully relatable. Another pointed to Singapore and said Australia should copy its stronger warning labels, where suspicious texts can show up as “Likely Scam.”

Then came the side-eye toward phone companies. A frustrated commenter asked why telcos allow caller name and number trickery in the first place, accusing them of permitting obvious nonsense when they should be blocking it. Others were happy about the cleanup but annoyed that many real companies still don’t bother using branded names at all, with one theory being they’re too cheap to pay the extra fee. So yes, the policy sounds sensible — but the comments make it clear the public mood is: nice start, now do more.