Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

My question today is to Senator Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I again refer the minister to the removal of Telstra payphones at the Wollongong TAFE campus. Is the minister aware that students at the campus have serious concerns about their safety because there has been a rape and bag snatchers near the campus and that the removal of Telstra payphones from the TAFE campus will force students to walk a significant distance through a dark and isolated part of the campus to reach alternative payphones? Doesn’t this show that payphones play an important security role for the most vulnerable in our community? Why is the minister putting community safety at risk and doing nothing to stop Telstra from cutting those phones?