Don't Hang Up

Newcastle Herald

Monday February 27, 2006

HE SAID SHE SAID WITH DAVID AND TANYA OF KO-FM 102.9

WITH the announcement last week that Telstra was going to do away with 5000 public telephones, I can hardly say I'm surprised. Let's face it the public telephone is set to go the same way as the VCR or cassette tape because it has become virtually redundant. It has given way to modern technology and it was only going to be a matter of time.

When mobile phones first became available in Australia some 20 years ago they were the size and weight of a housebrick and cost a small fortune. Now they're the size of a credit card and just about everyone has one. I don't even know anyone who doesn't have a mobile phone.

They've gone from being luxury items to cheap necessities and they're sounding the death knell for public telephones.

When was the last time you used a public phone?

If it wasn't vandalised and "out of order" it was probably next on the list. After you've read the filthy graffiti around it and held the "germ dispenser" to your ear, found the correct coins, you may have actually used it for what it was intended for.

Public telephones don't exactly enhance the beauty of a street or a neighbourhood so why not plant a tree for every one they rip out of the ground?

There's an argument for hanging on to the few that linger where mobile coverage doesn't, but surely their days are numbered too.

TWENTY years ago on a stroll around the block, there were quite a few guarantees.

You would definitely pass a corner shop, a post box, a public telephone box and no less than a dozen friendly neighbours who knew you by name and would down tools for a chitchat.

These days, email is favoured over snail mail, mobiles over pay phones and supermarkets over small, mum and dad type concerns, which helps to grow our soon-to-be-extinct list even longer.

Now, during a quick circuit, you are more likely to power walk past at least one apartment complex, two duplexes, a discarded condom and a used syringe or two. As for neighbours, sadly, in some suburbs of late the first and only encounter is a silent goodbye as some poor, unfortunate soul is farewelled in a body bag.

Our cultural and communicative landscape is forever changing.

Telstra says public telephones are unsustainable, but not every Australian lives in a mobile phone friendly urban area and not every Australian can afford one anyway.

While they insist pay phones are untenable, we must be resolute that not providing economically disadvantaged Australians with access to cheap mobile phones is unacceptable.

David and Tanya can be heard on KO-FM 102.9 from 5.30am to 9am Monday to Friday. Email davidandtanya@kofm.com.au

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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