29th Nov 2021, 1:33 PM – Representatives Telstra Corporation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 - Second Reading - Against privatisation

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with an amendment to the usual second reading motion "That this bill be now read a second time," which is parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This means that the amendment failed.

Amendment text

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes:

(a) this bill seeks to preserve the operation of a range of regulatory obligations imposed on Telstra following its privatisation;

(b) it was the Liberal-National government that privatised Telstra;

(c) the privatisation of Telstra, in the view of many communities, had an adverse impact on regional telecommunications services; and

(d) that Labor's decision to structurally separate Telstra, and establish a wholesale-only National Broadband Network, was a response to these failures of privatisation policy; and

(2) calls on all members of the House to acknowledge the Liberal-National privatisation of Telstra, as a vertically integrated monopoly, was not in the national interest"