Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the following matter be referred to the House Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport, for inquiry and report:

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's Draft Determination on Voice lnterconnection Services, with particular reference to:

(1) the cost modelling inputs and assumptions used in the ACCC's modelling for declared voice interconnection services;

(2) the discrepancy between fixed and mobile termination rates and the potential implications for market neutrality;

(3) the financial and operational impact on fixed-only voice telecommunications providers;

(4) the potential consequences for businesses and consumers in relation to end-user pricing, service availability, and quality—particularly in regional, rural, remote and isolated communities;

(5) the implications of the proposed determination for regional, rural and remote communities, where fixed voice services remain essential due to limited mobile coverage;

(6) the resilience and redundancy of national voice infrastructure in ensuring service continuity during mobile outages and emergencies;

(7) the implementation and transition arrangements required; and

(8) any other related matters.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Lindsay moving a motion to refer the following matter to the House Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport, for inquiry and report:

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's Draft Determination on Voice lnterconnection Services, with particular reference to:

(1) the cost modelling inputs and assumptions used in the ACCC's modelling for declared voice interconnection services;

(2) the discrepancy between fixed and mobile termination rates and the potential implications for market neutrality;

(3) the financial and operational impact on fixed-only voice telecommunications providers;

(4) the potential consequences for businesses and consumers in relation to end-user pricing, service availability, and quality—particularly in regional, rural, remote and isolated communities;

(5) the implications of the proposed determination for regional, rural and remote communities, where fixed voice services remain essential due to limited mobile coverage;

(6) the resilience and redundancy of national voice infrastructure in ensuring service continuity during mobile outages and emergencies;

(7) the implementation and transition arrangements required; and

(8) any other related matters.

House standing committees in this place play an important role in our democracy. They are a way for the communities, stakeholders and experts to have their say, to challenge ideas and approaches and to test legislative and regulatory changes that impact Australians. House standing committees not only investigate any matter referred to them by the relevant minister but also propose their own topics of inquiry. Committee chairs are appointed by the Prime Minister and receive an 11 per cent salary increase, equivalent to more than $26,000 a year. Since the 48th Parliament began, only three of the 10 House standing committees have launched inquiries. The Chair of the Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport has been sitting idle, with not a single referral from the Minister for Communications and no proactive measures that they wish to investigate.

I note the member for Macquarie is the chair of this committee and recently stated the committee had been receiving private briefings from departments to prepare for an inquiry. The member for Macquarie further stated:

The committee is considering options for inquiries, and we expect those inquiries to kick-off in the near term.

Well, it has been six months since the election, and we have not seen a single scrap of fruit from the efforts of those very important briefings and preparatory work. There are a plethora of ideas for the standing committee to investigate, and today I stand here to present just one of them for you to take up. The committee can thank me for this.

See this speech in context