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Boswell wants bush telco rights law
27 May 2002
Queensland National Party Senator, Ron Boswell, has urged that a legislated right for country people to receive the latest telecommunications technology must be part of any further privatisation of Telstra. Senator Boswell, the National Party Senate leader, said that telecommunications access by people living regional and rural Australia has to be guaranteed after government ownership of Telstra falls below 50 per cent.
The Senator endorsed calls by National Party deputy leader, Mark Vaile, for an independent enquiry into the standard of telecommunications in regional and rural Australia before any further privatisation of Telstra. However, while Senator Boswell said telecommunications in county Australia were getting close the levels recommended by the Besley inquiry of 2000, his views are not shared by some of his National Party colleagues. New South Wales National Party MP, Kay Hull, said that while services might have improved in rural Queensland, Internet and mobile services in country New South Wales are still inadequate. Federal Opposition communications spokesperson, Lindsay Tanner, said that Senator Boswell’s comments about improved telecommunications services in rural Australia show that the supposed reluctancy of the National Party to the further privatisation of Telstra is a "sham".
The Australian, 27/05/2002, page 2.
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