Senator LEES —My question is also directed to the Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts and also relates to Telstra. Minister, how can you say that the high quality private sector directors that are now running Telstra are doing a good job in light of the figures just released by the Australian Communications Authority and acknowledged by yourself? Isn't it the case that your customer guarantee has failed and that these new figures actually show that the performance of Telstra has nosedived? Didn't you promise prior to the 1996 election that Telstra would not be privatised unless there was a clear public benefit? We have no proof that there was an economic benefit and now it has been proven in many ways that there is absolutely no improvement in services, so how can you suggest that the sale of the rest of Telstra is actually going to be in the public interest?

Senator ALSTON (Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts) —The facts are that Telstra has been tightening its belt ever since Kim Beazley, as minister for communications back in 1991, introduced competition. I know that is a very unpalatable proposition and you will not be out there telling anyone about it, but the fact is that Kim Beazley opened Telstra up to competition. Ever since that time it has no doubt been trying to get rid of some of those shonky work practices that have always been encouraged and condoned by your mates in the CEPU and elsewhere.

Telstra admitted that it was 30 per cent off world's best practice. It has therefore put in place a number of changes to try to smarten up its act. Again, totally unrelated to privatisation, we have taken the view that there ought to be minimum benchmarks and performance standards for both installations and fault repairs. We enshrined that in legislation through the customer service guarantee.

Senator Schacht —It has gone down 20 per cent—telephone connections in the bush are down 20 per cent since privatisation.

The PRESIDENT —Order! Senator Schacht, you can debate this matter at the appropriate time, and it is not now.

Senator ALSTON —The customer service guarantee took effect from 1 January this year and was designed to ensure that penalties were paid where there were not connections within a specified time and where faults were not corrected within a specified period—that is, one day for metropolitan, two days for rural and three working days for remote. I have to say that I continue to be disappointed at Telstra's performance in this regard. It has nothing to do with privatisation; it has everything to do with a commitment on behalf of management.

They no doubt will say to me that it is ever since you corporatised the outfit and then exposed it to competition back in 1991 that they have had to go down this path. All I am saying to Telstra is that that is not good enough. There are statutory benchmarks. We are now proposing to increase the amount that can be repaid to customers who do not have their faults corrected on time. After five working days, that penalty will increase from $11.65 for residential consumers to $40 per day thereafter. That is once again a very serious indication of how serious we are. We do not want to know why; we simply want to see the bottom line delivered in terms of performance.

I know that Senator Lees would support us in that because she wants to see Telstra lift its game as well, irrespective of who owns the place. Customer service guarantees and performance benchmarks have been in place in a number of other countries. We are the first ones to introduce it here. You were not interested. America, for example, which has never had publicly owned telecommunications companies, has had benchmarks in place. We simply want them to be adhered to. When Telstra put out a press release on 31 March this year, they said that they could meet those benchmarks. We are simply going to hold them to it. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that that occurs.

Senator LEES —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. Minister, you talk about shonky work practices and keep looking back at the previous government, but isn't it the case that you used to be able to, if you lived in the country, get your faults fixed on average 74 per cent of the time within a day and that it has gone down to 59 per cent of the time in the last 18 months? Is it not the case that your regulatory system is in tatters and that in fact Telstra was performing a lot better when it was in full public ownership?

Senator ALSTON (Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts) —The short answer to the second part of the question is no. Telstra's performance has been inadequate for a number of years. I remember in opposition I used to fulminate about the fact that these—

Senator Lees —This is only over the last two years.

Senator ALSTON —You might have a short-term memory; I can go back a bit further. I can remember in opposition getting stuck into Telstra on a regular basis because those quality of service reports showed they were not performing well enough. That is why we introduced the customer service guarantee. It was the very reason we proposed it prior to the last election. We have always taken the view that, irrespective of ownership arrangements, Telstra ought to measure up to a minimum standard. We are going to ensure that happens, irrespective of any other changes that might occur. It is simply the least that people are entitled to expect, and we will deliver on that promise.