SUMMARY
This inquiry has found that there is no substantial empirical evidence
to back up the Coalition Government's claim that the Australian economy
and Australian consumers will benefit from the partial sale of Telstra.
The Committee has demonstrated within the chapters of this report that
the Coalition Government's decision to sell Telstra is driven by ideology.
The decision to sell Telstra is not popular with the Australian people,
and the Coalition Government has sought to sweeten its move to sell by
linking the sale of public assets to the funding of national programs
of vital importance.
In pursuit of short term financial benefits, the Coalition Government
has attempted to sell to the Australian public the idea that the sale
of Telstra is necessary to secure funding for the environment, using the
Natural Heritage Trust as the vehicle.
The Committee is of the view that such vital environment programs should
be funded in their own right.
The Committee finds that it is essential for Telstra to remain in full
public ownership. In full public ownership, Australians will retain:
- access to quality services at competitive prices;
- social benefits flowing from Telstra's revenues to government;
- opportunities for employment and local manufacturing; and
- an interest in developing telecommunications technologies and industry
innovation.
The three key recommendations are:
- that Telstra remain in full public ownership;
- that the Telstra (Dilution of Public Ownership) Bill be divided into
two bills: one concerning the proposed sale; the other concerning the
Customer Service Guarantee; and
- that environmental programs of the Government be funded from recurrent
expenditure or from a proportion of Telstra's profits.
The inquiry, over the period May to September 1996, received 650 submissions,
and heard evidence from 136 witnesses in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra,
Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Townsville (including phone linkups to remote
areas).
The inquiry recognised the extent and depth of community feeling against
partial or full privatisation of Australia's national telecommunications
carrier, Telstra.
The inquiry has served the best interests of the Australian people by
providing opportunities for frank and open discussion on major public
policy issues in telecommunications. The inquiry has produced useful views
on the future of telecommunications.
The inquiry has also exposed to public and parliamentary scrutiny details
of the proposed massive job losses in Telstra, the extent of plans for
the duplication of cable infrastructure in the suburbs of major cities,
and the operations of the Telstra Scoping Study Task Group.