Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party opposes the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Protecting Services for Rural and Regional Australia into the Future) Bill 2007. It is merely a stunt designed to hide the government’s incompetence in connecting the nation with world-class broadband access. Despite what the member for Dobell said, having sold Telstra, this government has had 11 years to provide world-class broadband services across this nation, but it has failed to do so. That demonstrates its incompetence in delivery writ large. It cannot get its water policy right and it cannot get its health policy right, and it flounders—Abbott for Mersey! This is another example of where the government has failed the nation. Despite selling off Telstra, it has failed to make the essential investment in connecting all the nation, not only the capital cities.

Labor has a plan, and I will come to that in a minute. I hope the member for Dobell, if he is interested in learning something, will stay in the chamber and listen. Of course, he is not interested. He comes into this place and makes wild accusations—

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