Additional Comments – Australian
Democrats
There has been immense
pressure on the Government to ensure that the 'bush is up to scratch' before
they proceed with the full sale of Telstra. This Bill is a precursor to the full sale of Telstra in an attempt by the
Government to appease critics, but falls well short of addressing the colossal
number of public, business and industry concerns.
It is worth reiterating here
that the Democrats do not support the full privatisation of Telstra. The
Democrats maintain that at a minimum Government should own key
telecommunications infrastructure to ensure equitable access to affordable
state of the art telecommunications if Australia is to remain internationally competitive and socially
progressive. In particular telecommunications are an essential economic and
social infrastructure in rural and remote areas, and are becoming more important
in the context of the 'information economy' and the need to access services
such as e-commerce, e-learning, e-health and banking.
The Democrats believe that
the Government as major shareholder has been irresponsible in not investing
adequately to meet both current needs and future telecommunications needs. We
agree with SETEL's assertions that the focus on 'Standard Telephone Service' is
no longer sufficient to meet the needs of Australians.[85] Broadband is the future of communication transmission for the delivery
of voice, data and video based service. The Democrats believe that Government
leadership in facilitating and supporting all Australians to access affordable,
fast, reliable, broadband is crucial if Australia is to flourish in the 21st
century. Yet the Government has failed to invest wisely.
While the Government holds up
the HiBIS scheme as evidence that they are spending on upgrading
telecommunications in regional and rural areas, we believe the scheme is flawed
as it throws money at old technology, for example upgrading ADSL, instead of
investing in new technology like laying out more fibre or developing wireless
options.
The Democrats share the
disappointment expressed by NFF in their submission that “after nearly two
years the Bill is simply a ‘cut and paste’ of the earlier Telstra
(Transition to Full Private Ownership) Bill 2003. The opportunity to modify and
strengthen the Bill to better reflect the relevant recommendations has
not been taken.”[86]
As outlined in the majority
report there was overwhelming concern that the Bill does not adequately reflect the recommendations of the Estens reports,
let alone the issues that the Estens report did not address.
The Democrats applaud the
Government committee members for addressing a number of the concerns raised by
submitters and witnesses. The Democrats support the majority of the
recommendations made by the Government committee members and would support such
amendments in the chamber. However like the ALP, the Democrats have concerns
with recommendation 3, and support the ALP's further recommendation on this
issue and that the review committee should have an ambit beyond the adequacy of
rural and regional services.
As mentioned in our opening
statement the Democrats do not believe that the Government have or are doing
enough to ensure fair and equitable access to state of the art
telecommunications in this county. The Government continues to refuse to
adequately deal with issues around competition, regulation, and services. We
have covered many of the issues in various senate committee reports including
our comprehensive minority report to the Senate inquiry into the Telstra (Transition to Full Private
Ownership) Bill 2003 tabled in October 2003; and the three senate inquiries
which I chaired - A
lost opportunity? Inquiry into the provisions of the
Australian Communications and Media Authority Bill 2004 and related bills and
matters, tabled in March 2005; Competition
in Broadband Services, tabled in August 2004; and The Australian Telecommunications Network, tabled in August 2004.
We think there are many
issues still outstanding with respect to the delivery of telecommunications in Australia and we will again reiterate these in more detail as
part of our response to the Environment, Communications, Information Technology
and the Arts References Committee on the Performance
of the Australian Telecommunications Regulatory Regime, scheduled to be
tabled on the 23 June 2005.
Senator John Cherry
Australian Democrats
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