Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday I rose in this place to put on record my disgust that Telstra is introducing a range of fees for people paying their bills across the counter. When I got home on Friday, I, like many thousands of other customers, received a letter from Telstra outlining the new schedule of fees for the payment of bills, particularly across the counter. Today I have written a letter to Telstra, and I would like to share that letter with the House. I am sure that many members are receiving some flak from constituents on this—I can tell you that we are in my electorate. I think it is time we took on Telstra over this issue, which is in effect a tax on the poor or a penalty on poverty. My letter reads:

Dear Mr Thodey

Greetings from the beautiful NW Coast of Tasmania!

I write to you on behalf of many hundreds of loyal Telstra customers from my region who pay their Telstra bills, across the counter, in person, and do so as part of their way of doing business.

Recently you announced two things—both of which I believe contradict each other to some extent.

Firstly, you rightly announced that Telstra should once again become ‘an agent of the customer’ and suggested that Telstra staff and agency should be ‘customer ambassadors’. All your Telstra customers would congratulate you on this measure, and look forward to seeing these changes occur in the near future.

Secondly, you have circulated customers that Telstra will be charging a ‘… new $2.20 payment administration fee for each bill payment sent through the mail or made in person at a Telstra Sop or Australia Post’, as well as increasing the existing payment processing fee for credit card payments. The notice also states: ‘If you use your credit card to pay your bill in person both the payment administration fee and the payment processing fee for the credit card will apply.’

I put it to you Mr. Thodey that the imposition of the latter charges or penalties is not in the least ‘customer friendly’ or the action of ‘an agent of the customer’.

Thousands of your customers in my region and throughout Australia do not access a computer and or do not wish to do their business transaction via this medium. In addition, many of these loyal customers want to do their business by paying in cash or credit card, across the counter, face-to-face with a customer service person. They do not want to be forced to use direct debit or cheque or savings account payments (some of which carry their own bank fees) nor do they want to use electronic payment methods over the internet for security reasons.

In addition, many of your customers and my constituents have contacted me, angry about the principle of being penalised for paying their bill in person. It is one thing to pay for a service, but to be penalised for doing so in a particular way, angers many people. Thousands of your customers who pay by this means are often older citizens, used to transaction their business in person, distrustful of and somewhat intimidated by the internet and new electronic technologies. They are also often people on low incomes.

I urge you on behalf of the many thousands of loyal customers who will be negatively affected by this penalty, to revisit the decision and to scrap it. Telstra is a mighty company, often a monopoly service provider particularly in regions like my own, and has the financial ability to encourage its customers to consider alternative practices rather than punish and penalise them into doing so. I consider this latest action to be an unfair penalty on a large and loyal segment of your customer base and a none-too-subtle attempt to herd customers onto electronic means of payment. It may be Telstra’s view of the future but it is not the way thousands of your customers want to do their business and custom with Telstra.

And so on. Many hundreds of people in my electorate are already signing petitions to Telstra objecting to this penalty for paying a bill. They are happy to pay, but it makes them very angry to be penalised because they want to do face-to-face transactions or use their credit card. I am happy to take up the case for them. (Time expired)