Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I think you would recall who the member for Gwydir was, Member for Lowe. The New South Wales Farmers Federation, an organisation that I was proud to be a member of, sold out their constituency—absolutely sold out. They are now running around the countryside complaining about Next G and how they are going to champion those people who cannot receive modern technology, when they supported the sale of the vehicle that was producing enormous dividends. They sold not only a vehicle that was producing enormous dividends but also the political capacity to influence the debate into the future—and that is the great tragedy of this.

For people to suggest that the yearly interest on the $2 billion Communications Fund would future-proof country Australia is absurd. It is an absurd proposition. How are you going to guarantee technology that has not yet been invented? It is absurd to think that a fund such as the Communications Fund would carry so much weight that private entrepreneurs, including Telstra, and private businesses would capitulate and deliver technologies that have not even been thought of yet into the marketplace when they know full well that they are not going to get a financial return, a shareholder return, on delivering into communities like Yetman and Acacia Plateau or even into pockets of some bigger communities as well. The former government sold the political leverage that was required to deliver an essential service to country Australians.

We have had a lot of talk in this place about infrastructure—and we passed the Infrastructure Australia Bill only about an hour ago. The most important piece of infrastructure for this nation this century is not a road and it is not a railway line; it is telecommunications. Telecommunications is the one thing that negates distance as a disadvantage of being a country resident. In fact, it is the one piece of infrastructure that has the potential to reverse the slide. People are able to enjoy a lifestyle in the country and still perform at full capacity, productively et cetera, by way of modern telecommunications, if they can get access to that at equitable prices and if they can get an equitable quality of service. The former government sold out country Australians by selling the capacity to make sure that that happens through the political process.

A private company would not have been bound by the Communications Fund to provide telecommunications technology that has not yet been invented. Obviously its marketing would be driven by the size of the market and the potential to make money. If you do not believe that, have a look at what is happening in the airline business, where it costs nearly $1,000 to fly from Tamworth to Canberra and back when you can nearly go around the world for the same price. That is what we sold out on when the former government sold Telstra.

A number of issues have been raised here tonight, but there are two that I would like to bring up. I congratulate the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy, for deferring the switch-off of CDMA to Next G.. There are still enormous problems there. I am actually in the process of surveying my electorate to find out where those problems are and what should be happening. There have been a number of mixed messages. One thing that came out of Senator Conroy’s decision is that he still maintains some degree of political leverage on Telstra. Once he says that CDMA can be turned off, any political pressure that can be leveraged against Telstra will be removed. The minister still has the capacity to influence the outcome of that particular issue.

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