Mr Deputy Speaker

An issue of great concern affecting residents in my electorate of Bennelong is the consultation process governing the installation of mobile phone base stations.

Recently Telstra has progressed significantly towards a decision for a new site in Mobbs Lane Carlingford.

Whilst a shop owner is being enticed with a reported five-figure annual lease fee to place a base station above their shop, despite the fact that it is situated across the road from a pre-school and a kindergarten, and within 50 metres of a child’s bedroom window.

I was encouraged that Telstra was conducting two consultation sessions with the local community to discuss the available site options, as they are required to do under telecommunications law.

At the first meeting yesterday the lead Telstra representative is reported to have privately told several residents that the site decision had already been made, and they are wasting their time in discussing it any further.

This assertion was quickly rescinded when questioned in front of the main forum, attended by a Daily Telegraph journalist, but this attitude is certainly consistent with my prior experiences at a Telstra site in Quarry Road in Ryde.

As the Federal MP I am absolutely committed to ensuring that the residents of Carlingford, and of the whole of Bennelong, are able to access full and transparent consultation at the start of any such decision making process.

This is an issue of great concern to any community, and apparent tactics of intimidation designed to make residents feel helpless, are not in line with a corporate citizen’s responsibilities.

To the residents of Carlingford I pledge that I will stand by your side in the pursuit of the fairness and transparency you deserve.

I hope that further parliamentary speeches and community demonstrations are not necessary, as Telstra proves to the people of Bennelong that they will:

• facilitate fair and transparent processes of consultation;
• provide a full assessment to all possible site locations;
• make public their reasons for preferencing one site over another, prior to a decision being made; and
• prove that the system of self-regulation in this industry is actually working.

Companies that benefit from self-regulation must demonstrate they are performing within the spirit and the letter of that regulation. The reports in Mobbs Lane to date seem to fall well short of that standard.

My role as an MP is to police the compliance of these regulations to make sure this system works. I look forward to working closely with Telstra and the people of Carlingford to prove to all of us that this is the case, and a result of mutual satisfaction can be attained.

Representations regarding a proposed facility in North Ryde eventually led to transparent consultations and a willingness by Optus to review their decisions in light of the opposition expressed by the local community, and the pressure applied by my office.

I hope this is a standard that can be repeated.

ENDS