COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Official Committee Hansard SENATE ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS Consideration of Additional Estimates THURSDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2000 CANBERRA BY AUTHORITY OF THE SENATE Thursday, 10 February 2000 SENATE—Legislation ECITA 87 SENATE ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS LEGISLATION COMMITTEE Thursday, 10 February 2000 Members: Senator Eggleston (Chair), Senators Bartlett, Bishop, Bolkus Payne and Tierney Senators in attendance: Senators Eggleston, Bishop, Payne, Lundy, Faulkner, Schacht, Fer- ris, Calvert, McDonald and Allison Committee met at 9.09 a.m. COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS PORTFOLIO In Attendance Senator Alston, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Senator Herron, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Neville Stevens, Portfolio Secretary Arts and Culture Rob Palfreyman, Acting Executive Director Les Neilson, General Manager, Arts Lynn Bean, Acting General Manager, Cultural Development Peter Young, Acting General Manager, Major Performing Arts Review Bill Henderson, General Manager, Old Parliament House James Barr, General Manager, Secretariat to the Centenary of Federation Peter Brown, Manager, Secretariat to the Centenary of Federation Pam Saunders Acting GM Old Parliament House Kate Cowie, Manager, OPH Public Programs Australia Council Jennifer Bott, General Manager Sarah Gardner, Director Strategy and Policy Don Baxter, Director, Arts Funding John Wicks, Manager, Finance National Library Warren Horton, Director Peter Hughes National Gallery Brian Kennedy, Director Alan Froud, Deputy Director ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS ECITA 88 SENATE—Legislation Thursday, 10 February 2000 Kieron Roost, Head of Finance Peter Gunning, Head of Facilities Australian National Maritime Museum Kevin Fewster, Director Quentin Howarth National Museum of Australia Dawn Casey, Acting Director Dr Darryl McIntyre, General Manager, Core Operations Acton Peninsula Project Craddock Morton, Acting Chief General Manager, Acton Peninsula Project Margaret Backhouse, Manager, Design Policy Acton Peninsula Project Phillip Allnut, Manager, Contracts and Finance Steve Costello, Manager, Alliance Support National Portrait Gallery Andrew Sayers, Director, National Portrait Gallery National Archives George Nichols, Director General Malcolm Wood, Assistant Director General National Science and Technology Centre Chris Bee, Deputy Director, Questacon, The National Science and Technology Centre Ann Landrigan Screensound Australia Ron Brent, Director Margaret Baird, Senior Manager, Resource Management Broadcasting and Film Broadcasting and Film Policy (DCITA) Dr Rod Badger, Acting Executive Director, ITTB Susan Page, CGM, Broadcasting and Film Ms Megan Morris, GM, Film and Online Content Ms Nerida O’Loughlin, GM, Licensed Broadcasting Colin Lyons, GM, Public Broadcasting Dr Simon Pelling, GM, Digital TV Group Peter Coroneos, Director, NetAlert Glen Alderton, Director – Company Secretary – Net Alert Special Broadcasting Service Nigel Milan, Managing Director Hugh James, Director Transmission Services Chris Sharp, Policy Manager ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS Thursday, 10 February 2000 SENATE—Legislation ECITA 89 Maureen Crowe, Head of Resources Australian Broadcasting Corporation Brian Johns AO, Managing Director Ms Janet Clayton, Chief of Staff Ms Julianne Schultz, General Manager, Corporate Strategy and Communications Andy Lloyd-James, Head National Networks Colin Knowles, Head Technology Strategy and Development Russell Balding, Head, Finance and Business Services Australian Broadcasting Authority David Flint, Chairman Giles Tanner, General Manager Andree Wright, Director, Policy and Content John Croker, General Counsel Jonquil Ritter, Director, Planning and Licensing Information Technology Office of Government Online Ms Glenys Roper, Chief Executive Warren Richter, Chief General Manager, Government Online Strategy and Implementation Peter Anderson, General Manager, Government Online Projects Gary Allan, General Manager, Government Electronic Business Susan Page, Chief General Manager, Y2K Office Steve Fielding, General Manager, Services Brian Stewart, General Manager, Policy and Directions Tim Field, Chief General Manager, Government Online Dave Hammond, Acting Director, Office Support Unit National Office for the Information Economy Paul Twomey, Chief Executive Fay Holthuyzen, Deputy Chief Executive Tim Field, Chief General Manager, Government and Community Strategies Tom Dale, General Manager, E-Commerce Janelle Bonnor, Chief General Manager, Strategy and Policy Richard Thwaites, General Manager, International Brendan Harkin, General Manager, Public Awareness David Kennedy, General Manager, AIEAC Telecommunications Chris Cheah, CGM, Telecommunications Division James Cameron, GM, Telecommunications Competition and Consumer Dr Beverly Hart, GM, Regional Communications Policy ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS ECITA 90 SENATE—Legislation Thursday, 10 February 2000 David Williamson, GM, Networking the Nation John Neil, GM, Enterprise and Radio Communications David Luck, GM, Research, Statistics and Technology Information Technology Keith Besgrove, CGM, Information Technology Andrew Skewes, GM, Information and Communications Industries Development Michael Sutton, GM, Building Information Technology Strengths Telstra Corporation Graeme Ward, Group Managing Director, Public Affairs and Corp Marketing John Stanhope, Director, Finance Ms Deena Shiff, Director, Regulatory Tony Bundrock, General Manager, Business Development, Telstra OnAir John Rolland, Director, OnLine Services Peter Freuh, Managing Director, Small/Medium Enterprise Sales Paul Granville, Regional General Manager, Network and Technology Group Graham Phillips, Legal and Regulatory Judy Slatyer, Managing Director, Telstra Information Connection Services Max Jennings, General Manager, Business Development, Telstra OnAir Australia Post Gerry Ryan, Corporate Secretary Jim Marshall, Group Manager, National Operations Michael Talbot, Group Manager, Retail Roland Hill, Group Manager, Corporate Public Affairs Australian Communications Authority Tony Shaw, Chairman Dr Bob Horton, Deputy Chair Geoff Luther, Senior Executive Manager, Radio Communications Jeremy Chandler, Executive Manager, Corporate Management Group Peter Stackpole, Executive Manager, Customer Services Group John Haydon, Executive Manager, Telecommunications Licensing Group Neill Whitehead, A/g Executive Manager, Consumer Affairs Group Roslyn Kelleher, A/g Senior Executive Manager, Telecommunications Grant Symons, Executive Manager, Standards and Compliance Group Barry Matson, Executive Manager, Radio Frequency Planning Group John Grant, Executive Manager, Spectrum Marketing Group Gill Kempton, Manager, Canberra Access Management Team Wayne Huxley, Customer Services Group Corporate Services ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE ARTS Thursday, 10 February 2000 SENATE—Legislation ECITA 91 Arthur Blewitt, Chief General Manager, Corporate and Coordination Len Marsden, General Manager, Corporate Services Dr Kay Daniels, Intellectual Property National Council for the Centenary of Federation Secretariat CHAIR—Good morning, Minister. The committee will now begin its consideration of the Communications, Information Technology and the Arts portfolio. Unless otherwise stated, responses to questions placed on notice today should be sent to the committee. I welcome the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the Hon. Richard Alston, and officers from the Communications, Information Technology and the Arts portfolio. Departmental officers will not be asked to comment on the reasons for policy decisions or the advice they may have tendered in the formulation of policy or to express a personal opinion on matters of policy. Minister, do you wish to make an opening statement? Senator Alston—No, Mr Chairman, other than to say that I had not expected to be here at all today, but I have been able to rearrange my schedule so that I will be here until lunchtime, when Senator Herron will take over. CHAIR—Thank you. TELSTRA Senator MARK BISHOP—Welcome. Just for the information of personnel from Telstra, I will be asking questions about ACA investigation of service levels, the CDMA network tran- sition, the Telstra-OzEmail merger, local number portability and finally coming to the Telstra- ABC online deal. So going through the routine and process matters first, this is probably for you, Mr Ward. On the ACA investigation of service levels, a report was handed down in mid- December last year. Could you outline to the committee Telstra’s response to the findings of the ACA inquiry into Telstra service levels? Mr Ward—I will ask Ms Deena Shiff to answer that. She is across the detail there, Sena- tor. Senator MARK BISHOP—Thank you, Mr Ward. Ms Shiff—In broad terms, the ACA found that there had been a diminution in performance in some areas in terms of service activation for areas without infrastructure. Then it pursued investigation around those issues. There was, in fact in the subsequent quarter, a substantial improvement in performance in those areas. Senator MARK BISHOP—Which quarter are you referring to there, Ms Shiff? Ms Shiff—The September quarter was the quarter that experienced improvement relative