Family First fields concerns over Telstra split

By Brett Winterford on Oct 20, 2009 5:17 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Fielding concerned for 'mum and dad' Telstra shareholders.

Family First leader Steve Fielding has expressed reservations about legislation aimed at forcing Telstra to structurally or functionally separate its business.

The Family First representative, whose vote could prove crucial in determining whether the Government's Telecommunications Legislation Amendment Bill will pass, said he plans to meet both the Rudd Government and the Coalition in the coming days to "discuss the issue of the separation of Telstra and the development of the National Broadband Network."

As revealed on iTnews, Fielding and independent Senator Nick Xenophon separately met with Telstra yesterday and heard out the incumbent carrier's pleas for more time to negotiate with the Government.

In a short statement released to the press late this afternoon, Fielding said he has "concerns that the 1.3 million mums and dads who invested in Telstra in good faith may have been hung out to dry.

"Also, $43 billion is an enormous an amount of money to spend and I want to make sure that any decision in how the NBN is structured is in the best interests of the country," he said.

Family First fields concerns over Telstra split

9 comments in this discussion

"@ Mordd Actually, it was Labor's own preference deals that handed Fielding his seat - and he picked up preferences from almost everyone, including Labor. I quote from the ABC, Oct 9, 2004: "The ..."

By RDEFCON1

Tags

telstra, family, first, telstra, split, functional, structural, separation, legislation, steve, fielding, xenophon

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Comments: 9

Sams Oct 20, 2009 6:13 PM	Please, please, vote this moron out of the senate at the next election.
anonymous Oct 21, 2009 10:37 AM	It might be more relevant if FF Fielding was concerned with the 22 million people that have been hung out to dry by Telstra, with poor service, outdated facilities and excessive charges for many years.
tallguy Oct 21, 2009 6:43 PM	Build the NBN, create some real competition for Telstra, and watch them change or die. Everything else is political point scoring.
FLashy Oct 21, 2009 8:35 PM	The NBN can't exist without Telstra's network of optic fibre cables spread across Australia to provide connection back to an ISP. Sadly the NBN company doesn't want to pay the same as any other data subscriber, they want to own Telstra's network of fibel cables. They would like Telstra to join the NBN company and offer their fibre network for free. To multiplex all the fibres from houses in a street, it would have to go through a hi-speed switch, I guess, which would in turn be connected by fibre back to Telstra's MSE network. NBN can not provide a rental fee to Telstra forever for this connection, thus we have a dilemma.
Mordd Oct 21, 2009 8:46 PM	we should email spam fielding en masse to lobby him not to be an idiot, if thats even possible
Mordd Oct 21, 2009 8:47 PM	fyi it was liberal preferences which got him in the first time, he only received something like 2-3$ of the primary vote himself, and he scraped in over the line for one of the last seats to be allocated beating I think a greens or democrats candidate narrowly for the seat from memory.
Sams Oct 22, 2009 2:00 PM	Mordd wrote: we should email spam fielding en masse to lobby him not to be an idiot, if thats even possible Unfortunately, I think that was classified as a 'terrorist act' under the last Coalition government.
mehness Oct 22, 2009 11:44 PM	I don't agree with Fielding on a lot of things, but this actually makes sense to delay - if not completely rebuke the bill. NBN Co/Wholesale Telstra will still be a business if its broken up. If anything investment will dry up as the monopoly assets are milked and regulations are made clearer for private equity annuity style ownerships. ULL and LSS prices dont cover accepted economic models in any ones land- except the warm fuzzy view of the ACCC boffins who work in government who have a vendetta against a carrier who charges a premium for services. NBN Co has to be commercially viable. The government (sorry private owners) cant sink 43 billion and not get an ROI at market rates. Remember the majority of the NBN is supposedly to be financed from private investors and after 5 years sold back to the market. Conroy's words. What investor in his right mind would put his money into an entity which will cost a f%$#load but not give an ROI? And not have any certainty that the government of the day might then decide, hey your prices are too high, lets just change the laws... "again"....for political gain. Splitting telstra though might sound like a good achievement for the next election but in reality its pointless if you analyse what it will achieve. Maybe conroy should start talking about banning the porn from the internet again... if there is one thing I know its that politicans are full of crap- the lot of them
RDEFCON1 Oct 23, 2009 1:33 PM	@ Mordd Actually, it was Labor's own preference deals that handed Fielding his seat - and he picked up preferences from almost everyone, including Labor. I quote from the ABC, Oct 9, 2004: "The deal done between Labor and several other groups to protect its third candidate Jacinta Collins has backfired badly. Despite polling only 0.13 of a quota, Family First harvest preferences from numerous groups including the Progressive Alliance, the Christian Democrats, the Aged and Disability Pensioners Party, Non-Custodial Parents Party, One Nation, Liberals for Forests, the Australian Democrats, the DLP and the surplus from the Coalition. By this stage, Family First has passed the third Labor candidate, Family First's Steven Fielding then easily wining the final vacancy on Labor preferences."