Ms O'BYRNE —My question is directed to the Minister representing the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts. Has the minister seen reports that, while he was seeking to justify the decline in services from Telstra to Tasmania, the Queenstown Hospital on the west coast of Tasmania had been without a functioning phone service for almost 29 hours? Minister, if you can't even keep the hospital phones working, how do you expect the people of Queenstown to believe your promise that a privatised Telstra will deliver a better service?

Mr McGAURAN (Arts and the Centenary of Federation) —I thank the honourable member for her question. This is an important issue. I have sought further information regarding this matter. I am advised that the Queenstown Hospital PABX system experienced an outage—in other words, it did not work. It started at 9.00 a.m. on Sunday, 28 March. Telstra has advised that the fault was fixed by 6.00 p.m. on Sunday night, but subsequently a second apparently unrelated fault occurred which was only fixed at 3.20 p.m. the following day, on the Monday, when they received spare parts. Telstra has advised that staff resources was not the issue. However, local management had difficulty in finding staff, in contacting them. This matter is being investigated and the government will be requiring, naturally, the same explanation that Telstra's management will want.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr SPEAKER —The minister will resume his seat. The member for Bass asked a serious question. I would have thought she would be very anxious to hear the answer, but I doubt that she can above the cacophony of sound that is occurring on that side of the House. I call the minister.

Mr McGAURAN —However, the hospital responded superbly to the problem and they put in place a contingency plan to maintain communication which was praised by the Tasmanian Minister for Health and Human Services, Minister Judy Jackson. What the hospital did was advise the community by radio to ring 000 for emergencies or otherwise the hospital's mobile number and they diverted calls through Hobart to the ambulance officer on duty. Telstra is required by the government—indeed, at its own initiative in any event—to investigate this matter fully and determine why such a delay occurred and how it should not occur in the future.