Senator ALLISON (9:13 PM) —by leave—I move amendments Nos 3 to 6 and Nos 8 to 10 on sheet 1255:

(3) Schedule 2, page 5 (lines 12 and 13), omit:

. The main source of money for the Reserve is $1.35 billion from the partial sale of Telstra.

substitute:

. The main sources of money for the Reserve are proceeds from the partial sale of Telstra and Telstra dividends.

(4) Schedule 2, page 5 (lines 18 and 19), omit the Note.

(5) Schedule 2, page 5 (line 22), omit the heading section 22A, substitute "$250 million derived from Telstra dividends ".

(6) Schedule 2, page 5 (line 25), omit "proceeds of the sale of shares in", substitute "dividends".

(8) Schedule 2, page 14 (lines 20 and 21), omit "the partial sale of Telstra", substitute "dividends received from Telstra".

(9) Schedule 2, page 15 (lines 21 to 30), omit the definition of proceeds of the sale of shares in Telstra .

(10) Schedule 2, page 16 (lines 17 and 18), omit "proceeds of the shares in", substitute "dividends from".

The effect of these amendments is to provide for the payment of the social bonus out of Telstra's dividends rather than the proceeds of the sale of 16.6 per cent of the share in Telstra. As I mentioned in my speech in the second reading debate, the Australian Democrats are of the view that it does not make economic sense to sell any more of Telstra. Furthermore, Telstra's performance in rural and remote areas just is not good enough to make us comfortable about any further privatisation.

We do not believe that the $671 million social bonus is going to solve all of the telecommunications problems for people in rural and remote areas. We think the improvement of those services should be part of an ongoing commitment and should be funded recurrently rather than as a one-off payment. We would like to see a proper plan in place, a systematic program of upgrading services governed by a well planned strategy to, as closely as possible, reach the equality of services between rural Australia and the cities. Consequently, we do not think that the social bonus program is an ideal program, but again it is a start, which is better than nothing. I will be moving amendments later regarding the social bonus distribution committee, which will be an expert committee to deal with the grants that will arise from this bonus.