Australian Democrats Candidate in the Western Australian state elections for the seat of Fremantle for Fremantle, Ms. Delys Beaumont, has described the North Lake¹ broadband debacle as further evidence that the full privatisation of Telstra should not be considered at this time.

Ms Beaumont was responding to a submission lodged on behalf of the North Lake Residents Association highlighting the lack of broadband, or ADSL, services in the North Lake area because it is too far from the Hilton Telephone Exchange.

"At a time when the Prime Minister, John Howard, is arguing Telstra is ready to be fully privatized by claiming regional services are 'up to scratch', we have a metropolitan suburb unable to access a basic service like broadband", said Ms Beaumont.

"I suspect the reason Telstra is not allocating resources to fix this problem is because they do not consider it economically viable. If this type of decision-making is occurring when the Government still owns a controlling stake in the telco, it can only mean disaster for the people of North Lake and other poorly serviced areas if Telstra is fully privatised and community obligations are thrown out the window.

"The people of Fremantle have a right to expect quality telecommunication services from their national carrier, Telstra. The Australian Democrats have opposed the full privatization of Telstra from the beginning and will not consider any such sale until all services, including those in North Lake and the wider Fremantle electorate, are of a high standard", said Ms Beaumont.