Michael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to speak about Telstra’s plan to close its Launceston call centre. It is foolish and misguided. Our community was quite stunned at the announcement just one week ago that 257 jobs based at the Launceston centre would go from the centre, which receives and acts on fault reports from all around Australia. I call on Telstra tonight not only to reverse its Tasmanian call centre decision but to consider expanding the current Launceston operation, which is housed in a building which is especially and purposely designed for call centre operations. I have written to Telstra’s CEO, Sol Trujillo, to express the anger of the local community, which I have been witness to. I have also written to federal ministers, including the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and the Tasmanian Premier. I am very pleased to report that the Commonwealth minister has reacted very maturely, quickly and promptly along with the Treasurer in saying that she will meet with Telstra later this week, and she has said in the other place today that she intends to put the pressure on to seek appropriate assurances about employment. I also thank her very much for speaking up very vocally last week in favour of Launceston. Unfortunately, the Premier of Tasmania was not so cooperative, instead choosing to accuse others of playing politics at a time when the community needs to unite. It is, in fact, him who is deciding to play politics. I refer to the Tasmanian parliamentary Hansard and tonight propose to say no more on that.

Telstra was interviewing for jobs for new positions in the Launceston call centre on the very day that this decision was announced. Labor has attempted to turn this issue into a party-political debate centring on the Howard government’s decision and longstanding policy to complete the final sale of the shares that it held in Telstra. It is worth noting that the Keating government corporatised Telstra, set up a board and gave it the mandate to function as a company in a very competitive environment. In giving this recognition I note that, while I do not accept or agree with the decision, it could have been taken under a 100 per cent government owned organisation or under a 51 per cent government owned organisation. In any event it is somewhat irrelevant, given that we have the decision to deal with. In addition to that, the Labor federal opposition now apparently agrees with the government’s position on Telstra, recently announcing that it, too, would dispose of the government’s remaining shareholding in Telstra.

As I have said, Launceston has a purpose-built techno park which provides an ideal opportunity for national companies wishing to expand its services. My strong recommendation to the company is to consider Launceston—and to fairly consider it—as home to one of its more consolidated four or five super call centres. Northern Tasmania has a reputation for being a first-class location for call centres with quality staff, low staff turnover—arising from the loyalty which we have seen in regional communities—competitive wages, affordable land and a lifestyle unequalled anywhere else in Australia. I have invited Mr Trujillo to visit northern Tasmania to further understand why our region is an ideal place for further investment by Telstra. Recently, as well, I convened a group of Tasmanian community and business leaders, and we have formed an alliance specifically designed to challenge Telstra’s Launceston call centre decision on business grounds. We intend to put together a strong business case to take to Telstra. We need to deal with this matter with a united front, and that is just what I have been very pleased to receive from our Launceston business and community leaders and the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, the Launceston City Council, the University of Tasmania and our regional development body NTD.

I do not accept Telstra’s decision, I do not accept the way in which it was taken and I do not accept the lack of consultation and good faith that it has shown in not even providing Launceston and northern Tasmania with an opportunity to put forward its credentials as a future location for Telstra to do business.