Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will briefly refresh the memory of the chamber on the National Relay Service, the NRS, which allows deaf and hearing-impaired Australians to make and receive telephone calls through the use of text relay services. It can be accessed through different options, including teletypewriters, SMS and, until recently, CapTel handsets. The NRS has been costing around $31 million, and the government were determined to reduce this cost. They capped the new tender for the provision of the service at $22 million and awarded it to a provider who did not include CapTel as an option. By doing so, they ended access to CapTel for NRS users as of 1 February this year. In the months leading up to this dreaded date, CapTel users, faced with losing the service that connected them with the world, pleaded for it to be continued. They were starting petitions and writing letters, horrified that such a decision had been made without even consulting them. I ask each of you to imagine trying to get by without an effective phone.

Over those months, motions have been passed in that chamber calling on the government and the communications minister, Mr Fletcher, to rethink this, but the government has ignored them. I have read to this chamber the stories of CapTel users describing the importance of this service and how it works, keeping them connected with the world, with family, with friends and with vital services they need to remain independent. For others, it evens up the playing field in the workplace to allow them the opportunity to pursue their work or run their business and to gain a level of equality.

It should matter to this government, shouldn't it—supporting hearing-impaired Australians to gain opportunity and equality? I could be quoting from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, couldn't I? That UN convention, which we just happen to be a signatory to, states that our government should:

… recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community …

Isn't that what we're all aiming for? Yet this government—in particular this avoiding minister—shows no signs of caring, no signs of empathy and no signs of caring at all about our human rights obligations. The minister remains unmoved.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet Jenelle Outhwaite, a CapTel user here in Canberra. It was great to see her demonstrate how she used CapTel and also how the alternative technology she had been offered by the government worked. It was absolutely clear that the alternative was inadequate, cumbersome and verging on obsolete. I want to take this opportunity to thank Jenelle for her time and her passion for making Australia a fairer place for people living with disability.

So why is this Morrison government so intent on upsetting people like Jenelle? It is a government intent on cost cutting to save a few million dollars on a vital service for deaf and hearing-impaired Australians. It is a government prepared to protect a cabinet minister who rorted a $100 million grants program but not prepared to protect the dignity, wellbeing and human rights of senior deaf Australians. It is a government prepared to splash $150 million on swimming pools in marginal seats that no-one applied for, but it will take away the phone of choice from an elderly deaf Australian or a young employed Australian.

In the last week, US based company Ultratec has acted to keep CapTel phones working in the interim, with captions now provided from America. I want to commend a company which has the empathy that this minister patently lacks. Its CEO says he's been moved by messages from 'distressed and frightened' deaf Australians. He noted:

CapTel has been available for over 10 years in Australia and I believe it is not acceptable to leave CapTel users without access to family, friends, employment, emergency services and the myriad ways that all of us use the telephone.

It paints a stark picture of what's important to the Morrison government, and it's a disgrace. It's beyond offensive. I'm going to borrow a phrase from Senator Lambie and just say this: I've had a gutful of this self-serving, cruel, cynical and morally bankrupt government. These guys in the Liberal Party back room have done the numbers. They've colour coded their spread sheets. Clearly there are just not enough votes in it for them, so they're going to try and ride this one out. Australians living with a disability are not going to let them forget, ever. (Time expired)