Mr TOYNE - 1998-06-16
The Country Liberal Party administration has supported the sell-off of Telstra. What evidence does the minister have that rural and remote Territorians will not pay more in call charges or suffer reduced access to services if Telstra is sold completely? Will he make public his supporting evidence for this proposition? Will he give a guarantee that rural and remote Territorians will not pay more or lose services if Telstra is sold off?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I believe this is another indication that the honourable member’s ideology is blinding him to the true issues. Since Telstra has been partially privatised, some of these services have not only been maintained at the previous level, but have been improved. One guarantee that we have had until now, with an entirely government-owned Telstra, has been the universal service obligation (USO) of which the local member is only too aware. That is the sort of thing we need to fight to keep in place. It is more important ...
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: The member mumbles. He does not want to hear the answer.
It is more important that we get these issues right. Regardless of whether Telstra is owned entirely by the government or privately owned entirely, it is more important that we have those benchmarks in place. Much of what Telstra has done while it has been owned entirely by the government has been done because it was required to do it by law.
Mr Toyne: Is there a guarantee for the next phase?
Mr ADAMSON: Is the member unable to understand that, if the law is in place, it does not matter whether Telstra is owned publicly or privately? We need to ensure that that law is kept in place. If the member cannot get that basic concept right in his head, we cannot proceed to step 2 or 3 or 4. The most important issue with the sale of Telstra, whether the sale goes through or not, is to maintain and increase the standards. As Minister for Communications, I am on record as saying in this House that I believe the USO has never been set at a high enough standard. Sometimes, it has been held up as almost a bible or as being written in stone. I believe the USO has been totally unacceptable to Territorians until now. It has never been good enough, and it needs to be increased.
Whether Telstra is owned publicly or privately will not make any difference unless we have those things set in concrete. That is what we are concentrating on. We have made representations and we will continue to do so. I know the member opposite has also made representations in that regard. He has gone part of the way but unfortunately not all of the way. We will keep working at these things because they are the safeguards we need in place to ensure a better system for all Territorians. We will continue to work on them even if we do not have the support of the honourable member.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I believe this is another indication that the honourable member’s ideology is blinding him to the true issues. Since Telstra has been partially privatised, some of these services have not only been maintained at the previous level, but have been improved. One guarantee that we have had until now, with an entirely government-owned Telstra, has been the universal service obligation (USO) of which the local member is only too aware. That is the sort of thing we need to fight to keep in place. It is more important ...
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr ADAMSON: The member mumbles. He does not want to hear the answer.
It is more important that we get these issues right. Regardless of whether Telstra is owned entirely by the government or privately owned entirely, it is more important that we have those benchmarks in place. Much of what Telstra has done while it has been owned entirely by the government has been done because it was required to do it by law.
Mr Toyne: Is there a guarantee for the next phase?
Mr ADAMSON: Is the member unable to understand that, if the law is in place, it does not matter whether Telstra is owned publicly or privately? We need to ensure that that law is kept in place. If the member cannot get that basic concept right in his head, we cannot proceed to step 2 or 3 or 4. The most important issue with the sale of Telstra, whether the sale goes through or not, is to maintain and increase the standards. As Minister for Communications, I am on record as saying in this House that I believe the USO has never been set at a high enough standard. Sometimes, it has been held up as almost a bible or as being written in stone. I believe the USO has been totally unacceptable to Territorians until now. It has never been good enough, and it needs to be increased.
Whether Telstra is owned publicly or privately will not make any difference unless we have those things set in concrete. That is what we are concentrating on. We have made representations and we will continue to do so. I know the member opposite has also made representations in that regard. He has gone part of the way but unfortunately not all of the way. We will keep working at these things because they are the safeguards we need in place to ensure a better system for all Territorians. We will continue to work on them even if we do not have the support of the honourable member.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016