John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that the President has received the following letter, dated 27 February 2006, from Senator Conroy:

Dear Mr President,

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today I propose to move:

“That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

(1)

Telstra’s secret plans to remove at least 5 000 payphones throughout Australia, including nearly 1 300 phones in rural and regional Australia;

(2)

The revelations that under the current regulatory regime, Telstra would be able to remove around 25 000 of its 32 000 payphones;

(3)

The fact that the Minister was unaware of Telstra’s plans before they were reported in the media;

(4)

Telstra’s failure to reveal these plans under questioning on the issue during Senate Estimates; and

(5)

The fact that the Government’s privatisation agenda is already resulting in telecommunications services throughout Australia being slashed.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Conroy

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today’s debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.