Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—As part of its election commitment to boost Australia’s productivity, the Rudd government has committed up to $4.7 billion and will consider regulatory changes to facilitate the rollout of a national broadband network. This will be the biggest national investment in broadband infrastructure ever made by an Australian government. The national broadband network will rival the Snowy Mountains scheme in its scale and national significance. It will provide infrastructure to transform our society and our economy, moving us confidently into the digital age.

The national broadband network will be foundation infrastructure. It demonstrates our commitment to investing in infrastructure vital to Australia’s future long-term prosperity. Access to high-speed broadband services is critical to Australia’s future long-term economic prosperity, our international competitiveness and our social wellbeing. The national broadband network is expected to provide minimum speeds of 12 megabits per second to 98 per cent of homes and businesses. It will be rolled out and made progressively operational within five years.

The government is also committed to promoting competition. This is why the national broadband network will be an open access network. Access arrangements will provide for equivalent access terms for all competitors that use the network. They will also provide scope for access seekers to differentiate their product offerings by allowing the customisation of access speeds, quality of service and contention ratios. This will facilitate real competition, delivering high-quality and efficiently priced services.

The national broadband network will provide a platform for sustainable growth for our economy for many years to come. The government is committed to the expeditious delivery of these outcomes and is moving quickly and methodically to ensure a timely outcome. So that the nation achieves the best outcome from this process, the successful proponent will be selected through a competitive assessment process, assessed by a panel of experts. Last month Senator Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, released the request for proposals that calls for proponents to develop and submit innovative bids that meet the government’s objectives. Proponents will be required to put forward the costings associated with their planned fibre based networks.

The government accepts that, in order to ensure all potential proponents are assessed on an equal footing, knowledge of existing network infrastructure is required. It is likely that any fibre based proposal will need to draw on or augment elements of Telstra’s existing customer access network as well as network information belonging to other carriers. As the amount of information in the public domain regarding Telstra’s customer access network is not extensive, the government is seeking provision of network data. That is why the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is working with carriers to achieve a voluntary outcome for the provision of all of the data that is required. Telstra has recently provided some information voluntarily, which the department is currently reviewing. However, the government’s view remains that it is important to have a legislative framework in place.

This bill has been considered by the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts, which released its report last week. The Senate committee recommended that the bill be passed, subject to consideration of the committee’s report. This was a unanimous recommendation. What we have seen from the shadow minister today is a personal attack on the minister, because there was no substance to be offered in criticising the performance of the minister or the performance of the Rudd government in advancing broadband to make sure that we move into this century. After 12 years of neglect, after 12 years of failure from those opposite, the shadow minister was reduced to personal attacks on the minister. The Rudd Labor government is committed to ensuring all Australians have access to high-speed broadband services.

This bill is an important step in the competitive process for selecting the company that will build the new high-speed national broadband network that is so important to Australia’s future. The bill enables the government to allow all parties in the marketplace to compete on the merits of their proposals not on the basis of proprietary control of information derived from their market position. This will ensure a fair and effective competitive process for the benefit of the Australian economy.

The new network will ensure Australia’s future prosperity, providing a platform for sustainable growth for our economy for many years to come. Coming on top of the budget announcement on Tuesday night which had at its centrepiece planning for the future including the $20 billion Building Australia Fund, this is good legislation to bring Australia into the 21st century and I commend it to the House.

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