Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will declare a conflict of interest: I have a shack on Bruny Island. But I am sure Senator Bushby would be supportive of consumer safeguards.

By addressing Telstra’s integration across the fixed-line copper, cable and mobile platforms, and by delivering a structural separation of the company, consumers stand to benefit from the increased competition across the sector. With NBN Co. to be a wholesale-only communications provider with open-access arrangements, the rollout of the NBN is already reshaping the competitive dynamics of the communications sector.

Senator Conroy has already highlighted the beginnings of benefits to consumers and an increase in competition in my home state of Tasmania with the rollout of the NBN. We have seen introductory offers from internet service providers at prices as low as $30 for 25-meg download speeds. Other companies are offering packs for $90, which include all your broadband and phone calls. The equivalent Telstra package currently offered in Tasmania is around $130. This is clearly a result of the threat of entry of competition from the National Broadband Network. Competition will only increase with the ongoing rollout of the NBN and with the separation of Telstra. As Senator Conroy said when he first announced the proposed changes:

For years industry has been calling for fundamental and historic microeconomic reform in telecommunications.

And:

Today we are delivering this outcome in Australia’s long term national interest.

This legislation presents an opportunity for Telstra to forge a new identity and will translate as a win-win outcome to be achieved by Telstra, its shareholders and by Australian consumers and businesses. This bill will address the longstanding deficiencies in the regulation of the sector and it will also drive growth, productivity, regional development, social equity and innovation. We will have proper regulation of the wholesale company and we will have proper scrutiny.

This legislation has been informed by the discussion paper on telecommunications reform which was released on the same day as the announcement of the National Broadband Network in April 2009. The discussion paper on telecommunications reform received a strong response, with 140 submissions received from a wide range of stakeholders. These submissions included all major telecommunications service providers, broadcasters, media companies, state and territory governments, the ACCC, disability and consumer groups, business organisations and unions. Their response was clear. Across all of the submissions, the unanimous feedback was that the telecommunications industry is uncompetitive, it does not assist consumers and it does not assist businesses. That is why we have initiated fundamental reform to the telecommunications industry, to address the high level of vertical integration amongst both Telstra’s wholesale and retail services. And, of course, these changes come alongside the rollout of the NBN—one of the largest infrastructure nation-building projects of our time, a project which will drive Australia’s future productivity and growth.

We must have the appropriate telecommunications regulation in place to ensure that the NBN is affordable and able to deliver high-quality services to businesses and consumers. The proposed changes to the telecommunications regulations have been met with a positive response from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Speaking after the announcement of the proposed split of Telstra, Chairman of the ACCC, Graeme Samuel, praised the changes saying the public is best served by having a competitive telecommunications sector. Mr Samuel went on to say:

There are 21 million Australian consumers, about 16 million of them are using some form of telecommunications service and they are the big winners because, at long last, we’re seeing competition quite clearly infused into the telecommunications sector.

This legislation has widespread support across the telecommunications sector. I received a letter earlier this year—as I am sure other members of parliament did—from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the Competitive Carriers Coalition, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Netspace Networks, Primus Telecom, TransACT Communications, Vodafone Hutchison Australia and the Australian Telecommunications Users Group. The letter, which related to the original bill and was co-signed by those 10 major groups, pleads the case for passing the bill with signatories arguing that we need these ‘comprehensive and coherent reforms’ to improve competition and consumer protection in Australia. These groups also emphasise the need to deliver these reforms for consumers in regional Australia. I read from the letter:

Australian consumers deserve and need these reforms, none more so than those in regional Australia. These Australians have been let down repeatedly by policies that have sought to paper over the symptoms of poor competition without addressing the root causes.

Through this legislation, we are bolstering consumer safeguards and protecting consumer access to affordable telecommunications services. The legislation retains and strengthens the universal service obligation. Telstra, as the universal service provider, therefore must ensure all Australians have reasonable access on an equitable basis to standard telephone services including payphones.

The customer service guarantee will be bolstered through minimum performance benchmarks to require telephone companies to meet or exceed the CSG requirement. If the standards are not being met, those companies will incur civil penalties. There will be additional priority assistance requirements for telephone companies. Through enhancing the powers of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, to issue infringement notices, we will also have more effective enforcement of our bolstered consumer safeguards. The Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts Legislation Committee report also provided an endorsement of the legislation. The final report concluded:

The committee believes that the bill in its current form provides important and timely reforms to Australia’s telecommunications regulatory regime that will be of benefit to providers and consumers

The committee recommended that the bill should be passed.

We cannot let those opposite deny Australians better broadband and telecommunications services whilst they try to work out where they sit on the issue. Given that a few weeks ago Mr Malcolm Turnbull agreed at the Melbourne communications conference that ‘If vertical integration is the problem, then separation—structural or functional—is the answer’, we must ask how, in spite of these comments, those opposite still will not fully support the legislation that provides for the separation of Telstra. What is the reason for objecting to a bill which breaks down the telecommunications monopoly? Why oppose legislation which finally gives consumers and businesses a fair go? We need to act now to deliver fundamental reform to the telecommunications industry—reform which will benefit both consumers and businesses in the future. I commend the bill to the Senate.