Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

cannot contest or argue against them. And the Labor Party might very well—if they were to be objective, fair and balanced about this—give the government credit. Since 1997, the average price of telecommunications services has fallen by more than a quarter, by some 26.2 per cent. It has fallen by a quarter. For instance, a three-minute call to China in 1997 would have cost $7; the same call today can be made for as little as 56c. On average, households are $717 better off than they would have been without the government’s competition and privatisation policy, and the economy is some $12½ billion dollars larger today than it would have been. So the Labor Party may want to take those facts on notice, give them a considered examination and reply—and give credit where credit is due. There is no doubt at all that consumers believe that the government’s policies, which include privatisation, have been of material and calculable benefit to them.

Governments all around the world, of all political persuasions, from the Left to the Right of the political spectrum, recognise that there is little point in owning telecommunication carriers. There is a whole list of countries in Europe—Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Denmark; the list goes on—or our near neighbours such as New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The governments in all of these countries are getting out of telecommunications ownership. Even the Chinese Communist Party is selling its shares in China Telecom.

So it would seem that the Labor Party are the last of the planned economists and that they believe that the government should still be the majority or whole owner of telecommunication carriers such as Telstra. It just lacks credibility in the constituency. I believe the Labor Party are underestimating the judgement and, may I say, the economic nous of the Australian electorate. The Australian electorate have moved on a great deal since 1997, when we began the part privatisation, and they have experienced the benefits of the government’s policies. I believe they are broadly supportive—and, I even confidently predict, by a majority—of the government’s full privatisation, because they know that privatisations are a vital part of liberalising and strengthening an economy.

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