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

The number is 1800 888 888. Feel free to give them a ring any time you want. If there is a problem with the reception and you are not getting equivalent coverage to what you previously received, you should use that number. If it turns out that you do not have the appropriate handset, then Telstra, at no charge—and this was insisted upon—will replace the handset with an appropriate one. That was the first thing we asked for—the advertising and the commitment to replace phones. We also sought commitments to the farming community on issues around telemetry—because this is critically important, as Senator Nash would understand—in that those who used telemetry to run equipment on their farm have the ability, since there was a shortage of equipment initially, to have their equipment replaced.

The local wireless loop provides vital services to regional and rural Australians, and there are equipment issues there again. Because of the deadline that Telstra sought, many people had yet to receive the equipment they needed to make the conversion from CDMA to Next G. We sought that, to ensure that the promises made by Telstra were delivered and that people had equivalent coverage. Those were the sorts of things about which we said to Telstra, ‘You must identify and rectify this before we give any consideration.’ Telstra came to us and said, ‘We believe we can achieve all of what you have asked for by 28 April.’ What we have said clearly and consistently is that, if Telstra do that, that would then be an appropriate date. But Telstra have to meet those challenges. So on Monday we convened a meeting with a whole range of interested stakeholders to talk about whether or not Telstra were meeting the objectives. (Time expired)