Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am still living the dream. I note that there is a lot of support here for the Clarence River. To me it is a real shame to lose over 100 jobs in a nice town like Grafton. If anything you would think that Telstra would be looking at the opportunity to do even more in a centre like Grafton. Grafton is not big by capital city standards, but it is a place of opportunity. It is a place where young people have so much to give. You would think that the leadership of corporates like Telstra would embrace that opportunity, that they would think there are a lot of young people going through those schools and there are a lot of people that could add value. You would think they would take that opportunity and also provide those opportunities to Telstra to improve their service. As the member for Cowper said: how do you reduce the number of workers and then improve the level of service? It just does not really make sense at all.

I think what has been achieved in Grafton, with over 6,000 names on the petition, is great. As I said already today with regard to Australia Post, these organisations talk about their customer service and what they are doing for people but, when the people speak, where are they? One of the best shows of what people want, of what is important to local people and to people in regional Australia, in fact to people anywhere across Australia, is in the form of a petition. When they are completely ignored it is ridiculous. It is a shame and it is ridiculous.

I look upon the situation as endemic; it is a major failing of organisations such as Telstra that do not see the opportunities. They do not see what people really need and do not see what could be achieved in these areas. I look at this situation and think this is just another case where you just have to shake your head about what Telstra has been up to. I look forward to opportunities in the future to be able to say, ‘Telstra is doing a great job.’ In three years I have not been able to do that, and at this rate I cannot see any of us really being able to give any great endorsement on what Telstra is planning for the future either. This is such a great opportunity for Telstra to say: ‘We believe in regional Australia. We believe in Grafton as a centre of great consequence. We believe in what the people of Grafton and the district can do through this call centre.’ They could say that. They could tick the box and show that endorsement. Yet they have not. They have ignored what 6,000 local people want, and, in my view, they so often ignore what everybody in this country wants. So it is hard to have a great deal of confidence. I would hope that in the future we would have reason to be confident in Telstra. They are an organisation of great ability which could deliver a great deal for this country, but there have been too many opportunities that they have missed, have passed up, on which they have not displayed any vision. I think that Grafton is just another example of that lack of vision and that lack of belief. You start to wonder what they are really all about. Where has the customer service gone in Telstra? It has been a long time but it is very hard to see what they are achieving. It is hard to see very many positives at all.

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