Senator PATTERSON (3:14 PM) —I found that performance rather amazing, given the fact that Senator Schacht must have been the most appalling and most abysmal minister for communications that this country has ever seen. We have seen the absolutely appalling introduction of various telecommunications policies—

Senator Schacht —I raise a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. For the sake of accuracy in the record, unfortunately have never been the minister for communications. I certainly will be the minister after the next election.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! There is no point of order.

Senator PATTERSON —I meant the shadow minister for communications. He is an appalling shadow minister who really dabbles around. It is very obvious. He has been abysmal in his performance as shadow minister. The bureaucrats sit on the other side during estimates and scoff at his questions and believe he does not pay attention to detail. He is hopeless. He has got up here and gone on about Minister Alston, who is actually doing things and reforming the system. When we look at the Telstra service levels of performance for the March quarter—

Senator Schacht —Service in the bush has gone down.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! Come to order, Senator Schacht!

Senator PATTERSON —Madam Deputy President, I sat here in absolute silence listening to Senator Schacht—it wasn't worth listening to, but I sat here in silence—in deference to him and in deference to the Senate, but he chooses to interject on me all time. He did not say what he wanted to say when he was on his feet, and now he wants to have a second go at it. It is appalling. It is just like him: he cannot actually get his words out the first time round, cannot get his argument over the first time round, and he then wants to interject on me when I am speaking.

Telstra has a national obligation to maintain its service at the levels which Australians expect and deserve. Its quality of service levels have been unacceptable for a number of years, particularly in regional Australia for many years under Labor.

Senator Schacht —It's got worse under you lot.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order, Senator Schacht!

Senator PATTERSON —For example, it is true that only 64 per cent of faults nationally were cleared within one working day of notification in the December 1997 quarter and 63 per cent in the March 1998 quarter, but it is also true that this fault clearance level had exceeded 75 per cent in only two quarters in the four years to December 1997.

Thank heavens Senator Schacht is leaving the chamber—now I will be able to go on without being uninterrupted. We continually expressed concern about service levels when we were in opposition, but Labor did nothing for 13 years. That is why we promised before the 1996 election the introduction of the customer service guarantee scheme, requiring carriers to compensate customers for not meeting standards on phone installations, repairs and appointments. We delivered on that promise, and the scheme took effect from 1 January 1998. Labor had 13 years to do something about it and did absolutely nothing. Now Senator Schacht comes in here as the weak shadow minister for communications, bleating about the fact that we have done nothing about Telstra's performance.

The Labor Party did nothing in government, and in opposition all they can do is carp. I will repeat what the coalition has done: we promised before the 1996 election to introduce a customer service guarantee, which requires carriers to compensate consumers for not meeting standards on phone installations, repairs and appointments. It took effect on 1 January 1998. However, it seems from today's figures that Telstra is taking too long to lift its game. That is why we are sending them an unmistakable message with today's announcement that per day fines under the customer service guarantee would rise to $40 if Telstra has not connected or repaired a service by five working days after the time period specified under the customer service guarantee.

Labor's feigned interest in rural telecommunications issues stands in stark contrast to its appalling lack of any concrete action to address these issues for over a decade. It has a total lack of credibility on rural telecommunications, which is demonstrated by its failure to require Telstra to speed up the digitalisation of its telephone exchanges, thereby giving rural phone users access to advanced phone services, as the coalition has done; its failure to require Telstra to provide rural Australia with high speed digital data capacity through the rollout of ISDN capability, as the coalition has done; its failure to examine the need to upgrade the definition of the standard telephone service to take into account new technologies, as the coalition is doing; its failure to provide any substantial financial support to meet the specific telecommunications needs of rural Australia, as the coalition has done; and its opposition to the coalition's $250 million regional telecommunications infrastructure fund, which is providing much needed support for rural communities, including the establishment of points of presence, enabling local call access to the Internet. This opposition has no reason to be complacent and no reason to crow. It has done nothing about the issue of Telstra and what Telstra is doing.

I have given just part of the record of what the coalition is doing to actually bring Telstra into line and deliver services to consumers, in particular those in rural and regional Australia.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —I call Senator McGauran.

Senator Sherry interjecting—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! Senator McGauran has the call. We had two on your side and now there will be two on this side.