Mr HOCKEY (11:41 AM) —If anyone wanted a good example of the situation in which an Independent can move an amendment and have absolutely no responsibility for the outcome of that amendment—

Mr Allan Morris —Mr Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: the member is casting reflections on the motivations of the mover and the forms of the House. I would have thought that you should keep him in line. He is suggesting that a member cannot move amendments.

Mr Filing —On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker: I ask you to ask the member to withdraw that reflection on the reasons for me moving these amendments.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. N.M. Dondas) —The honourable member for North Sydney should be aware that any member of this parliament has the right to be able to move amendments to legislation.

Mr HOCKEY —I was not disputing that, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was saying that if ever there needed to be a good example of Independents—generally, not specifically—moving amendments and having absolutely no sense of responsibility about the outcome and the impact of those amendments then here it is. The member for Moore (Mr Filing) is moving spurious amendments which seek to undermine the contractual arrangement made between the then Labor government—I note that the former minister for communications is here in the chamber—and Optus and Vodafone that by 1 January 2000 AMPS would be phased out immediately. It was a drop-dead date. It was not a phase out; it was a drop-dead date.

It was a deal between the ALP federal government and Optus, Vodafone and Telstra. I can only suggest that the major beneficiary of this spurious attempt to try to extend the life of AMPS is Telstra. Why? Telstra absolutely dominate the AMPS market. Through this amendment the member for Moore is reducing competition and giving Telstra the greatest leg-up that they have had in years. He is trying to preserve the Cobb and Co. infrastructure provided by the Labor Party in 1992. It is a Cobb and Co. infrastructure because AMPS will be outdated by CDMA and by D-AMPS. The relocation of the spectrum out of analog is going to be used for new and better technology.

In deference to the terrific work of the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts (Senator Alston) in relation to this matter, on 5 February the minister announced that he would try to do everything he could within the contractual constraints provided by the Labor Party to try to preserve mobile phone communications for people who currently have AMPS and do not have digital technology. Of course, that includes an urgent review by the Australian Communications Authority, and a number of other measures that ensure that, at the end of the day, people in rural Australia who have analog and do not have digital are not left, on the drop-dead date of 1 January 2000, without mobile phone technology in their area.

I wonder what the motivation is for this. Perhaps the member for Moore could answer this at another time, because he is pushing the federal government, the Commonwealth, into a protracted legal case between the Commonwealth and Vodafone because of the original pledge of the Australian Labor Party in 1992. Vodafone deliberately have not got into analog technology because of that drop-dead date. This amendment will have the single most significant impact on the value of Optus and Vodafone and it will be the greatest impediment to competition in mobile phone technology rather than our trying to create a competitive environment and ensure that people in rural Australia are getting the very best technology—the latest technology and complete technology—that delivers mobile phone access right across the nation. (Time expired)