Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Coonan. Will the minister inform the Senate how the government is regulating the telecommunications industry for the benefit of all Australians? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Ronaldson for the question and for his longstanding interest in telecommunications policy. As senators would be aware, the government is committed to the fair regulation of all players in the telecommunications industry, and that is for the benefit of Australian consumers. A sound regulatory framework encourages investment and it encourages competition, and it is competition that delivers choice and lower prices to consumers.

Senator Ronaldson asked me about alternative policies. I must say it was diverting, to say the least, to read the front page of today’s Financial Review, which reveals the Labor Party’s secret plan to dump consumer safeguards that give Australians cheaper call costs and greater choice. According to the article, union leaders are pushing the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Rudd, to dump regulation of Australia’s dominant and most profitable telecommunications provider, Telstra. The article goes on to report Senator Conroy’s eager agreement with the unions’ demands: ‘Regulatory change is needed now,’ he says emphatically. Senator Conroy is obviously totally confused. Just four months ago—last October—Senator Conroy said:

Labor has repeatedly stated that it strongly supports the telecommunications competition regime (that was after all developed by the previous Labor government).

So now, of course, we have the Labor Party saying it will abolish what it claimed to be its own. Today’s reports show Senator Conroy has been comprehensively rolled by Mr Rudd, who in turn has been stood over by Ms Gillard when it comes to bending to union demands. Competition has been the lifeblood of the telecommunications sector. It has seen the average cost of telecommunications services slashed by more than 25 per cent since this government was elected.

Labor must come clean with Australian consumers about its plan to abolish our regulatory safeguards, which have frozen basic home line rental costs, fixed call costs, guaranteed untimed local calls, ensured phones are installed and repaired straightaway, and ensured adequate payphone coverage. Today’s reports make it very clear that Labor would abolish these safeguards and give Telstra a monopoly over telecommunications services. You can have any flavour under Labor as long as it is Telstra.

Despite having a new leader, Labor has shown itself once again to be shackled to the trade unions. Last year we saw a feeble attempt by the new opposition leader to break free from slavish adherence to the unions’ demands. He flirted with the idea that the Labor Party could make up its own mind on industrial relations policy. That was very short-lived. He was summoned by the ACTU and read the riot act, and very swiftly fell into line. So, once again, we see the trade union movement is driving Labor’s policy—not the Leader of the Opposition, not the deputy leader and certainly not the shadow spokesperson for communications. This government will continue to stand up for consumers and the national interest and we will leave it to the Labor Party to roll over to the unions and dump consumer protections if they dare.