Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

To move:

That the House:

(1)

is highly critical of Telstra for introducing a $2.20 fee for over-the-counter and mail payments of Telstra bills;

(2)

notwithstanding concessions for pensioners and some Health Care Card holders, notes such a charge is an unfair penalty on low income families and individuals and considers it to be a penalty which is unfair and unjust;

(3)

regards the $2.20 fee and accompanying increases in processing charges for payment by credit card as an attempt to herd people onto the Internet or force them into direct debit arrangements, often against their wishes or capacity;

(4)

acknowledges these increases will negatively affect thousands of low income customers and fly in the face of Telstra Chief Mr David Thodey’s corporate instruction to Telstra staff and agencies to become ‘customer ambassadors’; and

(5)

on behalf of the many thousands of loyal Telstra customers who will be negatively affected by these charges, asks Telstra to rescind the fee and demonstrate in a practical way that Telstra is, once again, truly ‘an agent of the customer’.

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