Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Howard government disregarded the views of more than 70 per cent of Australians when it voted to go ahead with the privatisation of Telstra—more than 70 per cent of Australians who know that a privatised Telstra is all about profits, not people. Both Liberal and National Party MPs voted for the privatisation of Telstra. We raised the issues of concern on this side of the chamber. We said that a privatised Telstra would inevitably increase prices and desert communities if it could not make a profit, and those on the opposite side of the chamber did not agree. And now we learn that Telstra is secretly moving along the road of its cost-cutting program with its plans to axe 5,000 payphones throughout Australia, a devastating blow to thousands of Australians living in cities and in regional and rural Australia for whom these phones are in many ways a lifeline.

Telstra’s secret plans to do away with 5,000 payphones—so secret are their plans that apparently even the minister was not informed of them—demonstrate how inadequate the government will really be in ensuring a fully privatised Telstra maintains adequate services for all Australians. Payphones are an essential service to many in our community, particularly the elderly, the young, the homeless, the socially disadvantaged and many in regional and rural Australia, including those travelling through these areas. For many who use payphones, it would not be unreasonable to assume that this is their only form of timely communication. The availability of payphones in emergency situations must be considered with regard to both safety and lifesaving applications.

We have previously heard arguments about the country’s high mobile penetration rate, but there exist genuine reasons for concern about the proposed reduction of pay telephones across Australia. Senator Conroy has already raised the issue of the Kids Help Line. A submission to the review of payphone policy in 2003 from Kids Help Line—a 24-hour national telephone counselling service for children and young people aged five to 18 years—highlighted the vital role of pay telephones in providing access to the service. Kids Help Line counsellors play a role in intervention and crisis intervention, responding to concerns about suicide, mental health issues, child abuse, homelessness, pregnancy, grief, bullying, domestic violence and drug and alcohol use. To quote from the submission:

Payphones play a significant role in facilitating children and young people’s access to the KHL telephone service. Each year, Kids Help Line answers over 400,000 calls from children and young people from all parts of Australia. In the 2003 financial year, KHL counsellors answered 461,000 calls. Approximately 30% of these calls are made from payphones.

The report further highlights that 56 per cent of calls regarding homelessness, 44 per cent relating to violent assault, 39 per cent relating to sexual harassment, 36 per cent relating to physical abuse and domestic violence and 28 per cent relating to sexual abuse were from payphones. Again I draw your attention to the fact these calls on payphones are made by children and young people. When Telstra surveys the use of payphones, it must be remembered that children under the age of 15 are not included in the surveys. The removal of payphones will have a considerable impact on access to these and other services for many in our communities.

Another submission, this one from Women with Disabilities Australia, also claimed significant importance of the availability of payphones, stating that women with disabilities are more likely to be dependent on payphones for communication with friends and family and in emergencies than any other group. The submission highlights reliability, availability and accessibility of payphones as being of vital importance to women with disabilities. With regard to the future, particularly relating to the issue of mobile phones, cost is raised as a barrier for many people with disabilities who are living on the disability pension and also for people with low dexterity, who would have difficulty operating a mobile phone.

The removal of the 5,000 pay telephones is just the beginning of what we can expect from a privatised Telstra. And what of our guarantee of service? Telstra’s universal service obligation in relation to payphones is:

... to ensure that payphones are reasonably accessible on an equitable basis to all people in Australia, no matter where they live or conduct business. Telstra’s obligation extends to the supply, installation and maintenance of Telstra operated payphones in Australia, including the process for ... resolution of any complaints about the location of payphones.

Note that it says ‘reasonably accessible’ and ‘on an equitable basis’. What this government fails to comprehend is that what Australians want is affordable and accessible telecommunications across all of Australia, and this includes access to pay telephones. What we have is a plan to remove 5,000 payphones, including 1,289 in rural areas, with some areas in rural and regional Australia losing up to 50 per cent of their payphones. And how does Telstra tell the Australian people that the payphones are to be lost to their community? By marking the targeted phones with a sticker claiming the phone is to be relocated, when the reality is, in some cases, that it will be removed and not replaced.

According to a report in Monday’s Financial Review, which appears to have more information than the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts had at that stage, a Telstra Country Wide briefing note:

... reveals a strategy to minimise consultation with local governments over the move, divert complaints and avoid media scrutiny.

According to the article, the briefing note reveals that Telstra had investigated a proposal to remove more than 25,000 payphones but were concerned about the potential political backlash. If we go to the Telstra website, we will find a heading citing criteria for public payphones, and in that section it says:

In making a decision as to whether a request for a Telstra operated payphone is justified, Telstra will have regard to the following factors:

whether the request meets the criteria ... for Telstra to fulfil its universal service obligation, or can be commercially justified …

This government has failed to listen to the Australian public and has pursued its extreme ideological agenda to privatise Telstra at the expense of those people who rely on it the most: rural and regional Australians and the socially disadvantaged in our cities and suburbs.

Let us consider some of the targeted areas, according to the table printed in the paper. In my home state of South Australia, in the south-east, Mount Gambier will lose 122 payphones, Port Lincoln 112 payphones and Adelaide 334 payphones. In New South Wales, Albury will lose 192 payphones, Newcastle 55 payphones, Sydney—north, south, east and west—985 payphones and Goulburn 273 payphones. In Queensland, Brisbane will lose 274 payphones, Rockhampton 125 payphones and Toowoomba 76 payphones. In Victoria, the Melbourne area will lose a total of 749 payphones. In Western Australia, Perth will lose 203 and Kalgoorlie 43 payphones. In the Northern Territory, Darwin will lose 147 payphones. In Tasmania, Hobart will lose 49 payphones and Launceston 107.

Telstra has targeted thousands of jobs in rural and regional Australia, and now our payphone services are being targeted. It appears the minister supports this rationalisation of services. The government previously accused Labor of scaremongering about the impact of the privatisation of Telstra. Well, we are not even there yet and we have information being made available to journalists—a Telstra briefing note—revealing cuts to payphone services that the minister was not even aware of. This was a document detailing 5,000 payphones being slashed, removed from the communities. (Time expired)