Senator EGGLESTON —My question is directed to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. The social bonus provides a unique opportunity to make a national commitment to improving telecommunications infrastructure.

Senator Chris Evans —That's not what Richard Court said.

Senator EGGLESTON —I am sure that is not the case. Will the minister explain to the Senate the benefits which the nation will receive as a result of the social bonus associated with the sale of a further 16.6 per cent of Telstra?

Senator ALSTON (Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —I do not think there should be any doubt in the minds of all Australians that last night's result was a tremendous boost to information infrastructure, particularly in regional and rural Australia. It will mean expanded access to information technology; it will mean that an extra one million Australians will have access to SBS; and it will mean that our networks will be world class and that moneys that would not otherwise ever have been available will go to the most needed areas.

It is critically important that these opportunities are shared equitably amongst all Australians, not simply concentrated in a couple of the major states on the east coast. One of the major programs, of course, is Building Additional Rural Networks, a $70 million program which will give $10 million to each of the states. It is extraordinary, isn't it, that once you actually distribute money to all of the states you get howls from the Labor Party. Do they hate the minor states? Do they hate the bush? Clearly they do because, at the time of the last election, we had a Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund which had about $150 million in it and Senator Schacht's lasting contribution to public debate was that he got up and promised to knock it off, close it down, put the money in his back pocket. He did not even have something else to spend it on. It was absolutely extraordinary. So why do they hate the bush? I do not understand it, Madam President, and I am sure the bush does not either.

We have a $45 million local government fund to enable local governments to get their services online. There is $6 million to each of the states and half that to each of the territories. Again, Labor want to knock it off. They hate this billion dollar program, do not see any redeeming virtue in it and carry on with rhetoric about bribes. What sort of a message is this sending to rural Australia and to the outlying states? It is basically that Labor could not give a damn. They are only interested in the people who Martin Ferguson is interested in. In other words, he is very worried about the chardonnay socialists who dominate places like the Australian Capital Territory. Quite rightly so; if you look at him, he obviously prefers a rough red. It ought to be blindingly obvious to the Labor Party that, if you want to get into the game, you have got to do a bit more than pander to a few of the elites in the metropolitan areas.

Of course all of this is premised on the privatisation of Telstra. Why is the Labor Party against it? Who knows? Their current leader, of course, is on the record as saying:

The Government has a proud record of successful privatisations . . .

. . . I can claim to have been in on the ground floor of that process . . . when we sold the Williamstown Dockyard, corporatised the aircraft factories to form Aerospace Technologies . . . and corporatised the rest of the factories and Garden Island Dockyard.

In addition, the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation was sold . . . Preparations were also made . . . for a number of sales, including Qantas, ANL, ASTA, AIDC, and HLIC.

There was also the Commonwealth Bank. There was not anything left when we got to government. We felt very frustrated. All the work had been done. There was only Telstra left. Where did Labor end up? Of course, opportunistically opposed. As Terry McCrann quite rightly says this morning, `You can't be half pregnant; you've gone to a point where we now have only 50 per cent or a bit more.' He says that Telstra `will be left in a state of suspended animation' until `Kim Beazley abandons cargo-cult populism, Labor gets a real leader, or wins an election, or Meg Lees stops thinking of chickens, whichever comes first.' Some of those are much more likely than others. It is much more likely they will get a decent leader before the next election and it would be a classic opportunity—

Opposition senators interjecting—

Senator ALSTON —There are a couple of people who are clearly positioning themselves. (Time expired)

Senator EGGLESTON —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. I wonder if the minister would please advise the Senate whether there is any expanded mobile telephone coverage in South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia? Would he advise the Senate about the TIGER program and any other infrastructure initiatives which will flow from this social bonus?

Senator ALSTON (Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —As I was saying before I was so politely interrupted, there is a million dollars for each of those three states that Senator Eggleston pointed out. Again, it is puzzling, isn't it, that Labor senators from South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania should be opposed to these initiatives. Again, what sort of message does this send? TIGER is a very important program—not just Tasmanian tigers; this is all about ensuring that we have programs to deliver electronic services in regional Australia which will extend to a range of innovative programs. We want to get incubators in place. We want to get small and medium sized enterprises plugged into the information revolution.

Senator George Campbell —Is that for cooked chooks?

Senator ALSTON —It is all very well for people like Senator Campbell, who want to be on the front bench but are not prepared to do anything concrete about it, to just get up there and sandbag and, of course, argue for breaking Telstra up into little pieces. That is not the sort of thing Australians want to hear, Madam President. They want sensible, ra tional policies. You have got one chance to get it right. Louise Dodson's article said why Beazley's privatisation number is up. She is dead right.

(Time expired)