Communications

It is UnitedFuture policy to:

• Support the national partnership involving telecommunications companies and the government to develop a realistic timetable for the extension of broadband services into rural areas and hard to service urban areas.
• Create a national "Do Not Call" register, allowing people to list their home phone numbers. Numbers on this register will be legally protected from receiving calls from telemarketers.
• Ban telemarketers from calling anyone between the hours of 6pm and 8am, in any 24 hour period.
• Lower the cost of cell phone usage by ensuring that New Zealand has an open competitive modern telecommunications infrastructure, backed by a sound regulatory framework to protect the public interest;
• Take all necessary steps to safeguard children from harmful internet material, working with the Internet Safety Group and the industry to ensure that filtering software and other appropriate safety measures, including effective Codes of Practice, are adopted.