Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I also refer the minister to Telstra’s plan to axe 5,000 payphones throughout Australia and the company’s belief that it is entitled to dump up to 25,000 payphones. Is the minister aware that these cuts will result in the number of payphones in many rural and regional areas being cut by up to half? Can the minister confirm that the local presence plan that the government claims ensures Telstra’s presence in the bush does nothing to prevent these service cuts? Does the minister now concede that the government’s local presence plan is completely useless and will do nothing to protect rural and regional Australia from a fully privatised Telstra?