Privatisation of Australian Hearing would leave hearing-impaired Tasmanians worse off, writes Senator Doug Cameron
The Liberal Party's plan to privatise Australian Hearing would leave Tasmanians with hearing difficulties worse off, and should be stopped.
Australian Hearing, with its research arm the National Acoustic Laboratories, is a world-renowned, much-loved Australian institution that helps thousands of Tasmanians every year.
Why should we sell off a service that has been looking after returned servicemen and women since the Chifley Labor Government founded it in 1947? 
Why should parents of deaf children face risk, uncertainty and increased costs when Australian Hearing provides an excellent, affordable service now?
What will happen to the offices at Bellerive, Burnie, Devonport, Glenorchy, Hobart, Kingston and Launceston?
What will happen to the experienced paediatric and specialist audiologists employed by Australian Hearing in Tasmania?
Australian Hearing is the only organisation that trains paediatric audiologists in the country.
What incentives would private companies have to train or employ specialists? Australian Hearing's largest group of customers is pensioners. What benefit will they get from having their local office shut because a private service wants to maximise profits?
If you talk to Australian Hearing customers, they'll tell you how it allows people to participate in social life and in productive work. It's a lifeline that prevents people becoming isolated, particularly older people and children.
What price will the Liberal Government put on those benefits to the Australian community when it privatises our public hearing provider?
They certainly cannot be trusted when it comes to protecting those who rely on government services.
There is no good reason to privatise Australian Hearing. No persuasive argument has been made.
The Liberal Government spent $548,069 of your money on external consultants in its "scoping study" into privatising the service but won't reveal anything the study found.
Australian Hearing makes a profit operating at no cost to government. The Liberals may say no decision has been made yet, but it is listed as "available for sale" for $49.42 million in the Department of Human Services 2014-15 Annual Report.
It is an attractive and valuable asset; its customer database would have private audiology companies licking their lips and counting the profits.
The private audiology industry is currently under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for practices such as the "upselling" of hearing aids.
Many private clinics are owned by hearing aid companies and they pay bonuses to staff for hitting hearing aid sales targets.
Eminent audiologist Dr Bill Vass has said that this is an unregulated "cowboy industry that needs to be reined in". Anyone can hang up a sign and start selling hearing aids.
Yet, arising from the disastrous and unfair "savings" floated in the 2014 Budget, which Malcolm Turnbull is still trying to push through the Senate, the Government continues to pursue the sell-off of Australian Hearing.
But Labor agrees with Parents of Deaf Children that privatising Australian Hearing is too risky.
Labor agrees with Better Hearing Australia that follow-up services and rehabilitation - the services Australian Hearing provides - are as important as selling hearing aids.
And Labor agrees with the Deafness Forum of Australia that privatisation presents a host of problems that remain unresolved, especially potential cuts to services for infants and people in remote areas.
This world-renowned service must continue to provide quality services for the deaf and hearing-impaired.
I have been advised that legislation is required to sell off Australian Hearing. If a bill is brought before the Parliament to privatise Australian Hearing, Labor will oppose it.
We will need the support of the community to convince non-Labor MPs to reject such a bill. Petitions against the sell-off are available from your local Labor Senators, MPs and candidates.
With up to one in 6 Australians experiencing hearing difficulties, Labor believes we need a trusted public provider, one that looks after children and pensioners, one that takes care of people in remote areas. Please join us in opposing the privatisation of Australian Hearing.
Labor Senator Doug Cameron is Opposition Spokesman for Human Services.