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Inquiry into Structure of Telstra

All Committees in the House of Representatives and joint committees of the Senate and House of Representatives for the 40th Parliament ceased to exist upon dissolution of the House of Representatives at 4:59pm, Tuesday 31 August 2004. Therefore, this inquiry has now lapsed.

On 11 December 2002 the Minister for communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Richard Alston, asked the Committee to inquire into the structural separation of Telstra's core network from its other businesses. The Committee invites interested persons and organisations to make submissions addressing the terms of reference by Friday, 31 January 2003.

Terms of reference

That the Committee inquire into and report on the economic and social impact of structurally separating Telstra's core network from its other businesses and reducing the Commonwealth's current shareholding in Telstra's non-network businesses.

In conducting its inquiry, the Committee should consider the impacts of such a proposal on:

  • The efficient provision of services to end-users, including businesses and residential customers in regional, rural and remote Australia;

  • Telstra's ability to continue to provide a full array of telecommunications and advanced data services;

  • Ongoing investment in new network infrastructure;

  • The wider telecommunications industry;

  • The telecommunications regulatory regime;

  • Telstra's shareholder value and its shareholders; and

  • The Commonwealth Budget.

The Committee shall consult widely in the conduct of the inquiry, including with the telecommunications industry, the investment community, representatives of regional Australia and the trade union movement.

In May 2002, a member of the Committee, Mr Lindsay Tanner MP, Shadow Minister for Communications, released a discussion paper, Reforming Telstra, which is relevant to the subject matter of this inquiry. The document may be accessed at: http://www.alp.org.au/dload/federal/media/reforming_telstra.pdf.

Submissions

Media Release

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