Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I refer the Minister to Telstra’s extreme 43 per cent home phone connection price increase. I did note your previous answer, but as usual you tried to gloss over the issue. Is the minister aware that these plans will result in price increases for pensioners installing new home phone connections of from $135.30 to $194? Does the minister believe that a $60 increase for the price of a home phone for pensioners is justified? Isn’t the Australian Consumers Association right when it says that this price rise ‘is going to hit people at the lower end of the income scale disproportionately’? Will the minister now act to stop these price rises to protect Australian pensioners from the impact of these extreme price increases?