Page 3685 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 21 November 2006
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Australia Post outlets a lot. They are an over-the-counter opportunity to transact business with the ACT government. We know that people in the ACT use the telephone quite a lot to transact business, either for inquiry or for paying bills through credit cards. We know that people use the internet and a range of other ways in which to communicate with the government, for example, cheques. So we have to look at whether some of the services are being underutilised or are being utilised fairly. We believe that most of the people in the Civic area are actually in transit, that they come from somewhere else, that they come from another part of the town—Belconnen, Tuggeranong or wherever.
Mr Smyth: All roads lead to Civic.
Dr Foskey: That’s it.
MR HARGREAVES: I will wait for as long as you want while you interject, because that just explains to me why you do not listen in the first place. We do know that there is one over-the-counter service that only the government can provide, that is, where you need to have a photograph taken to renew your licence. That service will be available at the Civic library from around January—as soon as we can transfer the electronics.
People can go to Australia Post agencies anywhere in town. It does not have to be an Australia Post shop. There are many of them in newsagencies round town. People can do so by phone. In fact, if one has a look at the back of the bills, one will see that half of the back page lists alternative contact sources. So I reject the notion of Dr Foskey that the closure of one shopfront, the Civic shopfront, is going to have a disastrous and detrimental effect.
Mr Pratt: Bills carrying your exorbitant rates—those bills.
Mrs Dunne: Yes, those bills.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Pratt: It’s all right. Carry on as if you were normal, John. Carry on.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR HARGREAVES: Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. I will treat Mr Pratt’s remark with the contempt that it is due. I do not accept the hysterical point that Dr Foskey makes—the highly emotive point. This merely builds on her straw man construction that all these services are disappearing, whereas they are not. Access has never been better, in fact. We are a very literate society. We have access to telephones. Almost every person in Civic can do something. They use their work phones for private purposes. There is a whole range of opportunities for them. In fact, I believe that across town the facilities for contacting and accessing government services, whether it be paying bills or acquiring knowledge and information, have never been better.
DR FOSKEY: What was done to find out how many people who use the Civic shopfront do not have access to the internet and a telephone and what provisions have been made for their access to similar services?
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