Fed: Senate pushes for Telstra to hand over faults database

AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2001
Fed: Senate pushes for Telstra to hand over faults database

PARLY 016

CANBERRA, Aug 28 AAP - Telstra will be compelled to hand over a database of fault repairs
after what Labor described as six months of stalling.

The document on substandard plant reports, the E71 database, must be tabled in the
Senate by September 18.

Opposition regional affairs spokeswoman Sue Mackay said she first sought it at February's
Senate estimates hearings.

Telstra initially agreed to provide the database then claimed it was commercially confidential.

Senator Mackay tried again in the June estimates hearings, with Telstra promising to
provide the E71 database with commercial-in-confidence information blacked out.

"Since then my office has been dealing on a weekly basis with the Telstra government
relations officer Graeme Murphy," she said.

"We are cognisant of the fact that this was a big exercise, however last week, on Thursday
the 23rd, Mr Murphy told my office he had been instructed to cease direct discussions
with my office and that we were to deal with the minister's office."

Senator Mackay said delays were caused by Telstra switching to a new data format but
she demanded to see the original database.

"Labor has been pursuing this since February this year and Telstra only advised on
August 22 that the total change to the database was in fact occurring," she said.

"According to Telstra's estimates alone, (the documents) provide between 10,000 and
20,000 faults on the network, most of them primarily in rural and regional Australia,
many of them dating back to 1995.

"We will be insisting on the information and we will be insisting on it in its original
form, not in a contorted Orwellian form which seems to have occurred over the last couple
of months."

Parliamentary communications secretary Ian Campbell said Senator Mackay's description
was an exaggeration and a beat-up.

He said the E71 database was not about service faults but a detailed record of Telstra
assets requiring maintenance such as cracked manhole lids.

Senator Campbell said Telstra had always made clear the database would be provided
but it required enormous work to get it into a useable form.

AAP fh/sw

KEYWORD: TELSTRA PARLY (REPEATING)

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