The sale of Telstra could lead to higher telephone charges, loss of local jobs in both Telstra and the local telecommunications industry and the down-grading of new technology into areas such as Gungahlin.
Senator Kate Lundy, a member of the senate committee that examined the Telstra Privatisation Bill, today warned of the negative results that a sale of Telstra could mean for residents of the ACT. The committee report Telstra – to sell or not to sell? was tabled in the Senate yesterday afternoon.
“Regional Australia will be worst hit by the privatisation of Telstra,” Senator Lundy said.
“It is a little known fact that the ACT residents benefit from telecommunications cross subsidies. The senate committee found that cross subsidies could not be guaranteed under a privatised Telstra and that cost rises would be inevitable.
“We also found that there was no protection under the legislation on what even constituted a ‘local call’. We could easily see a call within Belconnen considered local, but a call from Belconnen to Tuggeranong charged as STD. Or anything outside territory boundaries charged as STD which would see a call to Queanbeyan charged at long distance rates. There were inadequate consumer protections from this in the Government’s Telstra Bill.
“Even before the sale has been passed by the senate, Telstra has already made plans to shed almost 25,000 staff over the next two years in a clear attempt to make the company more attractive for potential buyers. However it was like drawing teeth to get Telstra management to admit their staffing plans. Telstra went out of its way to hide these figures.
“One can be sure that regional offices will go first. One more job lost in the ACT region is one too many under this Government,” Senator Lundy said.
“Regional areas, and the ACT included, will miss out on the provision of new and high quality technologies. A privatised Telstra will be a private monopoly in regional Australia,denying services that are not profitable.
“This is already evident from Telstra’s ever changing plans in Gungahlin. Under a publicly owned Telstra, Gungahlin residents were going to get access to cutting-edge technology even though the profits for Telstra were at least ten years out. With the sale in mind, Telstra has down graded the technology going into Gungahlin.
“The ACT has a vibrant and developing telecommunications industry and one of the reasons for this was the Gungahlin project. The Telstra Inquiry found that research and development would become a low priority for a privatised Telstra.
“Neither the Government, Telstra or the Department of Finance, the big three advocates of selling-off Telstra, could provide the senate committee with any substantial empirical evidence to back the claim that a privatised Telstra would benefit either the Australian economy or Australian consumers.
“The only justification they could provide was based on case studies such as the Trinidad and Tobago Methanol Company, a textile company in Tunisia and privatisation in Haiti.
“We found that the only way to ensure that Australians retained access to quality services at competitive prices; social benefits flowing from Telstra’s revenues to government; opportunities for employment and local manufacturing; and an interest in developing telecommunications technologies and industry innovation;
was to keep Telstra fully publicly owned with the power for the Minister to direct the corporation.
“It is the only way to ensure all Australians have equal access to new technology at reasonable prices and at an equal standard,” the Senator said.
