Queensland’s free service demand ‘disgraceful’, Telstra chief says

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has blasted a “ridiculous” demand from the Qld Premier over emergency text messages.

Queensland Premier Anna Palaszczuk. Picture: AAP

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has blasted as “ridiculous” and “disgraceful” the Queensland Labor government’s demand that it provide emergency text messages as a free community service.

The state government has signed a commercial contract with Telstra to use its network to warn residents of imminent dangers bearing down on their communities, such as bushfires and cyclones.

However Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will today push Scott Morrison to enact legislation requiring the telcos to provide the alerts for free, saying the service was costing taxpayers “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.

Ms Palaszczuk’s government sent out 1.2 million emergency text messages during the latest bushfire crisis, racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in Telstra charges.

Mr Penn insisted emergency services were a government responsibility and that shifting that burden onto a private company such as Telstra was “just ridiculous”.

“We put in place the telecommunications infrastructure under contracts … requested by the Queensland government, and obviously that costs money and so we get paid for that,” he told ABC Radio.

Telstra CEO Andy Penn. Picture: Aaron Francis

“To then come back later and say ‘we don’t want to pay for this bill’ well that’s just disgraceful.”

Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford suggested the burden could be borne by the federal government instead of the states individually.

“This should be a community service arrangement by either the federal government or by Telstra or by a combination of the both, but we don’t believe that taxpayers in a state … should have to pay for a commercial arrangement,” Mr Crawford said.

“We’re not saying that Telstra have to make a loss on any of this; what we’re saying is they shouldn’t be making a profit.”

Liberal National opposition leader Deb Frecklington said: “It’s no different to the negotiations when you have when you go in to discuss your phone plan – this is a bill shock the Premier’s now got because of simple lack of planning.

“This is another great reason why I think there should be a parliamentary inquiry into the disaster management through the bushfires.”

Mr Crawford noted contract negotiations with Telstra would “be coming up again very shortly” and hoped other state governments would join their call for a federal intervention.

“Telstra needs to think about whether it wants to … be a provider of a service to community and save lives, or whether they want to look at it from a corporate perspective and make money,” he said.