Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Telstra Corporation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021. Telstra has a long history of service within Australia, and, as Telstra changes as a business, enacting corporate restructuring means legislation must keep up. Telstra has many obligations to the Australian people, particularly in regard to having restrictions on foreign ownership, the universal service obligation, emergency call services and priority assistance, as well as the requirement for Telstra to allow other carriers to access its transmission towers. This bill stands to ensure that, while Telstra restructures its business, it continues to be controlled under regulatory equivalence, unable to utilise any legal loopholes that may appear due to the reformation and continuing to serve the interests of Australian people in its role as the country's largest telecommunications carrier. This bill stands to ensure that Telstra's operations as a private business will not be to the detriment of the Australian consumer and the services we require. This bill has its technical complexities, but at the end of the day it is here to serve us all and support Telstra's transition and restructuring. This bill will uphold Telstra's current obligations to Australian communities, Australian businesses and, indeed, Australia's broader community by maintaining regulatory equivalence for Telstra's successor entities.

I wish not to reduce this bill to its intricacies but instead to focus on what it stands for. Simply put, this bill stands for protecting consumers, promoting competition and also allowing regional Australia to flourish. Whether it's during bushfires, floods or COVID, we know how essential reliable and accessible telecommunications are to the safety and security of all Australians. The explosion of telecommunications services worldwide has provided opportunities for economic development never thought of before in human history, with services such as telehealth and Netflix and services that help people through emergencies such as bushfires and floods. Consumers want to be able to know that their telecommunications access is both stable and certain.

Since Telstra finalised its privatisation in 2011, it's been required to uphold certain obligations limiting foreign ownership of the company. Telstra's critical role within the telecommunications market means that we want its ownership and headquarters to remain largely on Australian soil, and this bill speaks to that by maintaining the assurance that Telstra's restructuring does not affect its ownership and subsequently its service to the Australian people. This bill ensures Telstra will remain a maximum of 35 per cent foreign owned, with no more than five per cent owned by an individual foreign investor. Moreover, the headquarters must be on domestic soil, allowing proper government oversight mechanisms to protect Australian consumers. This policy reaffirms the government's enhancement of the Foreign Investment Review Board regime, ensuring that critical national assets, including in telecommunications, are protected.

Telstra currently is under an obligation to provide many services that are core to Australia and its people. For instance, the universal service obligation guarantees the delivery of payphone services in rural and remote areas, as well as the operation of crucial emergency services lines like triple 0. As anyone who has lived in the bush knows, it's important to have these services on hand. They're key, and they cannot falter whilst Telstra restructures. Hence, this bill simply serves to ensure that they will continue to operate effectively under Telstra's renamed entity ServeCo, which will handle service delivery.

This bill is just one step towards the commitment of the Morrison government to ensure that all Australians have access to reliable, essential telecom services. In fact, the government has been informed by Telstra that they are already drafting agreements ensuring the smooth continuity of these services after the restructuring. In light of this, the provisions within this bill provide an important safety net of service for the Australian consumer. It's comforting to know that, despite the telecommunications industry having changed so much over the past decades, Telstra's role has remained crucial and steadfast as the sector and the country have changed around us.

The tower access framework is rooted in the motivation to increase competition within the telecommunications sector in Australia. The framework seeks to ensure businesses are running efficiently and those savings are passed on to consumers. This is achieved by providing other carriers with access to the tower infrastructure. This framework does not stop at Telstra as a carrier; indeed, all carriers will be regulated under this bill. Telstra's restructure has revealed, indeed, a loophole within the current tower access framework, in that a carrier could potentially shift its tower assets to a non-carrier subsidiary that it controls to avoid its obligation to provide access to tower assets. This bill will close this loophole and ensure Australian consumers are protected, whichever carrier they use. This bill addresses this information by rigorously defining the meaning of 'owned and operated' so that there are clear requirements in terms of share ownership and executive power.

This bill designates power to the minister to direct an individual Telstra subsidiary to take on the obligations of another subsidiary if it's the case that the initial subsidiary has failed, is failing or is likely to fail to fulfil an obligation. Moreover, if Telstra is failing to comply with a given direction, it may be liable for penalty. This acts as a safeguard to ensure that any potential restructuring of Telstra will always result in the obligations to Australian consumers being satisfied, irrespective of the formation of the parent and subsidiary businesses.

The government has taken significant steps in improving telecommunications across Australia, particularly in our regional and rural areas. Nearly $300 million has been committed to the Mobile Black Spot Program, which ensures that regional and remote Australia has access to the same high-quality mobile coverage available in urban areas. I will also note that, with investment in space being one of the priorities of our Manufacturing Modernisation Fund initiatives, space will continue to be a very important aspect of our strategic direction with regard to things like mobile black spots. And that is because Australia is leading the way with regard to GPS, and the GPS work that is being done under space modern manufacturing will enable black spots to become a thing of the past. I would encourage anyone who is interested in this area to look at the space inquiry of the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, of which I was a member, to see some of the wonderful initiatives being enabled by government and led by industry.

Nearly $300 million has been given to the Mobile Black Spot Program, and over $200 million is going towards the Regional Connectivity Program, which is developing stronger infrastructure across these same areas. And there is an extra $4.5 billion towards the NBN, with particular focus on ensuring infrastructure in regional areas is strong. Of course, there is more to do, and the Morrison government is committed to work towards this, having enlisted the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee to examine further potential reforms in the sector.

The bill before us today is recognition that, as the governance of our critical telecommunications carrier sector changes, it must change in line with business changes. Since its inception, Telstra has played a critical role in Australia's history and it will continue to do so into the future. To guarantee the continuation of its key role in the delivery of things like emergency services and countrywide access to telecommunications, we should all make sure that we support this bill and that we can all be proud that this is delivering for Australians here. With Telstra upholding the universal service obligation, this bill ensures that pay phone services will continue to be available in even the most remote areas of Australia—a crucial policy in maintaining our connection as a country. We need this now more than ever as, together, we face some pretty interesting times. I commend this bill to the House.

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