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A Fully Privatised Telstra Will Not Be Good For Gippsland

Privatisation of Telstra will create a huge private monopoly that will focus on profits to the detriment of services

By Jo McMillan - 27th August 2002 - Back to News

The full privatisation of Telstra will create a huge private monopoly that will focus on profits to the detriment of services, especially in regional areas like Gippsland, Federal Member for McMillan Christian Zahra told Federal Parliament this week.

In a speech on the further sale of Telstra, Mr Zahra told the House that when people talk about Telstra and services in country districts, they need to look realistically at the situation and understand just how big a player Telstra Corporation is.

"We are not talking about a corporation which is in a competitive situation; we are talking about a corporation which has massive monopoly power," Mr Zahra said.

"In country areas we know about corporations that have massive monopoly power. We know about big corporations that are worth billions of dollars and are interested making big profits," Mr Zahra said.

"Does it sound familiar? I think it sounds just like the banks in Australia. We in country districts know what it means when the banks are let off the leash. It means bank branches close and services go down."

Mr Zahra said that the Liberal and National Parties want country people to believe that the government will be able to regulate and control this massively powerful corporation once it is fully privatised.

"If people in the National and Liberal Parties think that a privatised Telstra Corporation will be a tame-cat corporation, that it will meekly do the bidding of the government of the day, they need to think again," Mr Zahra said.

"It is not an argument that stands the test of reality. Right now, Telstra is regulated by eight agencies. All of those regulatory agencies have been unable to smash Telstra’s massive market power."

"And the Liberal and National Parties expect us to believe that if we make Telstra a massive, privately owned corporation with all of that market power, somehow we will be able to regulate it and make sure that services are provided to country people, irrespective of where they live."

Mr Zahra said that in the historic debate that we are engaged in right now – whether or not to privatise the remaining share of Telstra – the National Party has just capitulated, run up the white flag and sold out country people.

"The Liberal and National Parties are expecting country people to cop this. Let me tell you: we will not cop this."

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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