Senator ALLISON(7.42 p.m.) —The government, and the minister in particular, have been hypocritical in the extreme over this issue of 13 millimetres. What has been said today shows that we are all pretty sceptical of the notion that overhead TV cabling will never be less than 13 millimetres. Minister, you yourself have said that Telstra's cabling is 14 millimetres. I cannot imagine that it is beyond the wit and the will of those interested in technology to reduce that by one or two millimetres; in fact, I am sure it would be quite easy.

I wonder, Minister, what you would do if all TV cabling was 12 millimetres. Would you stand by and allow those cables to be exempt when you have travelled around the country on so many occasions and put out so many press releases saying, `Oh, no, overhead cabling will be undergrounded from now on unless local council authorities agree otherwise.' That is what makes this such a joke.

We all realised the minute we saw this legislation that there would probably be no problem for the carriers at all to continue to roll out their aerial cables as they have in the past. Once again, you have removed the ability of councils and communities to do or say anything about that. I again say to you, Minister, that you have made much of the grand plan in this legislation which would put overhead cables underground. In your opening remarks you launched into your normal tirade of abuse by suggesting that the Democrats were going to cause havoc with this amendment by requiring all overhead cabling to be put underground. You knew very well that was not the case. This is part of your normal tactics to try to discredit anyone who might not agree with your view.

I find this, as I say, quite hypocritical and quite cynical on your part. I think it will not be too long at all before we see the carriers coming out with their 13 or 12 millimetres. As Senator Margetts points out, it is not a matter of whether they are 17 millimetres or 13 millimetres; the point is that they go through trees and they are at a lower level than the electricity wiring—they cause enormous damage. I am sure that, if you pointed a resident to two lines of cables and said, `Now, that one's 13 millimetres, but that one's 15,' they would not be able to pick it, and neither would they care. The point is that those cables are still being erected above ground.

I think, Minister, you have taken every possible step—whether it is transitional arrangements, whether it is feasibility or whether it is this 13 millimetres—to make sure that the rest of Australia is rolled out with aerial cabling. Your protestations and your promises have really come to nothing over this issue.