Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Perth for bringing this important issue before the House today, and my colleague the member for Shortland, who preceded me, for his contribution to this debate. It's very disappointing that we don't have any government members speaking to this motion tonight. I understand it's difficult—indeed, probably embarrassing—to try and defend this cruel and harsh decision. But what we really need now is government members with the courage to say, 'We got it wrong and we're going to fix this and overturn this cruel and harsh decision.' This is an issue that has caused great distress to so many people in my community. The Morrison government has cut the National Relay Service budget from $30 million to $22 million, making it nearly impossible for any provider to continue offering all of the existing services, and resulting in the end of the much-loved CapTel service. I have received pleas from a number of deaf and hearing-impaired Novocastrians who have told me of their profound distress at the prospect of losing this service.

Today I would like to share with the House the story of Mr Roy Bisson, from Maryville in my electorate of Newcastle. Once a week, Mr Bisson does what many parents do; he settles down for a chat on the phone with his son. They don't get to see each other very often in person because his son has a busy life as an electrician in Sydney. But they enjoy their Sunday morning chats, when they get to catch up on everything that's been happening in each other's lives over the week. This is especially precious to Roy because he has only 20 per cent hearing in his right ear and a cochlear implant in his left. In order to communicate by phone, Roy has been using CapTel, which provides real-time captions for every word in the conversation. But, sadly, all this is at risk, thanks to the Morrison government's cruel and small-minded budget cuts.

Mr Bisson wrote to me about this senseless cut last year. He wanted me to know how it would hurt him and thousands of other deaf Australians, and he asked me to advocate for him with the government. In his letter, Mr Bisson wrote:

Like thousands of Australians with hearing loss, the CapTel handset has provided with me a reliable and effective option for communicating by telephone for more than two years.

It provides me with a level of independence and freedom not offered by alternatives like the Internet Relay Function and web-browser captioned relay which require pre-planning to make and receive calls.

The Government's decision to stop supporting the CapTel handsets is unfair and will discriminate against thousands of Australians who rely on CapTel in both their work and personal lives.

I believe this is an important point. This Liberal government says it's all about giving people a go if they have a go, and yet it is shutting down the very service that allows deaf and hearing-impaired Australians to do just that. Mr Bisson summed up his letter with this strong statement:

CapTel must remain available so that all Australians with hearing loss or impairment can participate in our society on an equal basis and stay connected to the people we care about.

Hear, hear, Mr Bisson. It's hard to imagine what an isolating experience the loss of CapTel would be for Mr Bisson and other deaf and hearing-impaired Australians, and it's impossible to see how the government can justify this callous cut.

The decision by Ultratec to continue supporting Australian CapTel handsets as an interim measure is testament to the strong community campaign against these cuts. But it should not be up to a private company to make up for the Morrison government's bad decisions—and it's still only a temporary reprieve. I've written to the minister multiple times on this matter, and, each time, I just get the stock-standard response—and no adequate solution for the deaf people in my community. My Labor colleagues and I understand the profound importance of CapTel to deaf and hearing-impaired Australians. CapTel offers Australians the ability to communicate more easily, a greater quality of life and an improved sense of safety. It's time for the Morrison government to stop the buck-passing and to do what's necessary to secure ongoing access to CapTel. I look forward to a government member rising to make a contribution on this debate: to admit to deaf and hearing-impaired Australians that the government got it wrong and that they're prepared to stand up and fix it.

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