Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. In light of the government’s decision to allow Telstra to increase phone connection charges by 43 per cent and Australia Post to gouge millions of dollars in new fees, can the minister explain why the Howard government has decided to abandon pensioners? Will the minister now accept that the government’s communications regulations have failed to protect low-income Australians? Why is the minister allowing the two biggest companies in her portfolio to bolster their profits by targeting Australian pensioners?