Carol Bennett

They're not even having to go to an auction this time.

They're getting a billion dollar discount on last time.

So in return, what we want to see are obligations back on the telcos to say, well, if you're getting this precious public asset that taxpayers are footing the bill for, you should also

ensure that we're getting access and coverage and that will protect the public safety.

So there are different arguments about spectrum and pricing.

But for us, the issue is there must be obligations on industry to deliver coverage, but also public safety.

Well, the number one issue, if you had to look at all of this complexity of issues that are happening at the moment, it's that it's not deemed to be an essential service, and it is.

So when the original Telco Act came into effect in 1997,

That was back in an era where pay phones and landlines were predominant.

We're now in an era where we're all carrying around phones and devices and using them all day every day for everything we do.

It's the way we operate.

It's the economic underpinning of everything we do.

It's our way of connecting.

So, we've got to treat it like an essential service.

We've got to regulate it that way.

We've got to make sure that laws come into place that ensure that telcos have obligations back to the community.

We shouldn't just be saying, look, there's a voluntary code and we'll let you act in the interests of the Australian community based on what you think is in your own commercial interests, because we know that doesn't work.

telcos have shareholders they have interests in ensuring their commercial advantages are met but we've also got to make sure that we're putting on them some obligations to ensure that they are meeting the community's obligations and every other sector does this so this is one of the only sectors

that hasn't had those kinds of obligations placed on them.

Just as energy, water, banking, insurance, all of these sectors have had requirements and increasingly those requirements have been uplifted over time because it's really important to protect the public interest and you can't rely on commercial organisations to do that.