Telstra staff urged to dob<br />Luke McIlveen<br />May 28, 2003<br /><br />TELSTRA employees will be asked to dob in corrupt or incompetent colleagues through a whistleblowers' website being developed to make the company more transparent.<br /><br />The managing director of regulatory, corporate and human relations, Bill Scales, told a Senate estimates inquiry the website would be an avenue for lower-level employees to lodge complaints directly with upper management. "It's intended for our staff to give them confidence that they are able to bring serious allegations against management," Mr Scales told the inquiry.<br /><br />He raised the whistleblowers' scheme after questions from Tasmanian Labor senator Sue Mackay, who claimed a female Telstra manager had arranged a lucrative construction contract at Telstra for a former employer.<br /><br />The Perth-based middle manager allegedly organised the contract following a severe lightning storm in late March in which crucial sections of the Telstra network were damaged. Telstra confirmed that eight contractors were flown from Sydney and Adelaide to carry out the repairs, but denied there was any conflict of interest.<br /><br />"We have not looked at this in detail," Mr Scales said. "What I can say is our internal systems are meant to ensure that there is no improper conduct in these circumstances," he said.<br /><br /><br />Also yesterday, Telstra was asked to explain the millions the company spent each year entertaining corporate clients. Mr Scales confirmed some Christmas lunches cost the company up to $10,000 and, while the latest figures were not available, he agreed $10.7million was spent on client entertainment in 2001-02.<br /><br />"It seems quite large. In proportion to a $22billion company, it's relatively small in percentage terms," Mr Scales said.<br /><br />"But it's an issue that we are always looking at and we are trying to make sure we get value for money."<br /><br />Mr Scales was also asked to provide details of the company's decision to employ a public relations firm to heal Telstra's rift with the federal Opposition.<br /><br />He said the company spent $40,000 to sweet-talk 25 federal Labor MPs who had made "highly aggressive comments" about Telstra in the past. "I was finding it hard to understand why these comments were being made," Mr Scales told the inquiry.<br /><br />Labor senators also asked Telstra about the infamous plasma television affair, in which Communications Minister Richard Alston and Prime Minister John Howard were loaned state-of-the-art digital TVs for their private loungerooms.<br /><br />Mr Scales revealed the sets were each worth between $15,000 and $20,000, not $10,000 as first reported. Senator Alston said the loan had helped him to better understand the technology and Mr Scales recommended the Opposition accept a similar offer.<br /><br />The Australian

This is disgusting, already Australia is known as the land for dobbers, most ethnic people shake their heads in disgust as 99% of ethnic believe when there is a problem you face it face to face NOT OVER THE TELEPHONE.<br />Since dobbing is the question I reads this on a statistics web site. Over 85% of dobbing is done by women.<br />its sad. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/default/confused.gif" />