Sydney MP calls country people whingers

By Boyd Champness

AN INFLUENTIAL parliamentary committee has called on the Federal Government to boost infrastructure in rural Australia or risk creating a country of “two nations”.

Warning that the growing economic divide between rural and urban Australia has escalated to unacceptable levels, the House of Representatives standing committee on primary industries and regional services said it was up to the Government to take the lead in reviving regional areas.

The committee – which includes politicians from both sides of the political spectrum – recommended a major boost in telecommunication services in many regional areas, including the extension of minimum service guarantees to all people, regardless of location.

It also called for the relocation of Commonwealth departments to regional areas starting with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

And to improve country roads, two cents a litre from fuel excise should be dedicated to road construction and maintenance in country areas rather than being siphoned into other projects.

The committees comments on the health of telecommunication services in rural Australia could not have come at a more poignant time.

Earlier this month Telstra – the nations chief and semi-privatised telecommunications company – announced it would shed 10,000 jobs despite generating a A$2.1 billion (813m) profit in 1998-99.

Country people have noticed a continual decline in telephone services and line maintenance since the privatisation of 49.9% of Telstra in the mid-to-late 1990s and fear what further job losses might do.

In most country areas mobile phone use is out of the question and Internet services, if available, are extremely slow and expensive.

The situation is fast coming to a head with the Federal Government recently reiterating its desire to privatise the remainder of Telstra.

In a bid to convince country people to support the move, it has promised to pump a large percentage of the money gained from the sale back into regional and rural Australia.

But country people fear that once Telstra is fully privatised there will be nothing to compel the organisation to service unprofitable rural areas.

The Government claims that it will legislate to ensure a fully privatised Telstra carries on its universal service obligations.

But, as many rural commentators argue, if the Government cannot legislate now to ensure Telstra delivers better service, what hope will it have once the organisation is fully privatised?