Politicians underwhelmed by Telstra CEO’s ‘corporate speak’
LISMORE’S political leaders have been left ‘underwhelmed’ by Telstra CEO David Thodey’s ‘corporate speak’ response to their call for the telco to make a $3.4-million investment in digital infrastructure to compensate for the impending Goonellabah Call Centre closure.
Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin, State Member for Lismore Thomas George and Lismore Mayor Cr Jenny have adopted a bipartisan approach to negotiating with Telstra management on getting the best outcomes for 116 affected local staff and for the district’s economy.
“David Thodey is not offering anything extra to the Lismore district and we are disappointed but not surprised given the ease with which he can change the lives of more than 100 local people so dramatically,” the politicians said in a joint statement.
“We had approached Mr Thodey in good faith and were hopeful that our request, based on a detailed consultant’s study which identified gaps in telecommunications infrastructure in the Lismore area, would be given serious consideration,” they said.
“We asked Telstra to make a significant additional investment in new fixed and wireless networks and in retraining for affected workers, but Mr Thodey maintained that planned infrastructure upgrades will provide customers with enough coverage and that redundancy packages are adequate.
“We asked for a partnership between Telstra and Lismore City Council to run a two-year program to increase the use of broadband by local businesses, but Mr Thodey referred us to NBN Co and the Australian Government’s general educational programs.
“The only concessions from Telstra are its sponsorship of a jobs market which was already taking place at the Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre next Friday (October 19) and an agreement to consider allowing equipment in the call centre to be reused by another business if a new tenant can be found for the site.
“We have decided to release to regional media outlets all correspondence around our request to Mr Thodey for a digital infrastructure investment, so that the local community can get a clear indication of this corporation’s level of commitment to the regional city of Lismore.”
Thursday, October 11, 2012.
