Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always interesting to follow the member for Mayo, one of the architects of Work Choices, one of the Howard advisers who under the previous government of 11½ years came up with about 18 different plans. In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election I can recall, when I was a candidate, having a look at what the Howard government proposed for fixed and wireless telecommunications solutions for my electorate of Blair. I decided to go to Geoscience Australia and have a look at what impact the proposal would have on the federal electorate of Blair, because I knew down at Mount Alford in the Fassifern Valley meetings were being held by furious residents. My predecessor was down there and I saw pictures of him in the Fassifern Guardian with irate residents in the Mount Alford area who could not get access to broadband. In the area of Lowood—which used to be in Blair and may well be in Blair in the redistribution for the next election—I saw with Senator Helen Coonan, the then Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and my predecessor residents who were angry about not being able to get access to the kind of broadband connection they needed. So I decided to get hold of the Howard government’s proposal, the latest version, the latest incarnation, the last plan that they would take to the Australian public after 11½ years of failure, to see what impact it would have. It was a very interesting map I had of the electorate. There were lots of country towns—Kalbar, Boonah, Laidley, Gatton and a medium-sized city like Ipswich where I live. I had a look at what it said and the interesting thing was that there were vast areas that were not covered for the kinds of telecommunications and internet access that people wanted. The reason was topography. The Howard government forgot about hills and anyone who knows Ipswich knows there are plenty of hills. So lots and lots of people could not get access to the kinds of internet services that they expected, desired and needed. That was the Howard government’s legacy in telecommunications. It was simply astonishing that the Howard government could not come up with a solution after 11½ years.

I say to the member for Mayo: OPEL could not do what we wanted it to do and our proposal goes way beyond anything contemplated by OPEL in the kind of coverage it will bring to the regional and rural areas in Australia and the kind of quality of service it will give the Australian public. It really is galling to hear members like the member for Mayo go on about the failures of the Rudd Labor government with respect to national broadband when they have such form on the board.

The then shadow minister, now the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, came to Ipswich and we did a telecommunications forum together. Dozens and dozens of people came to talk to the shadow minister and me about their really strong frustration at the previous government’s failure with respect to the internet. University students told us that they could not get the kind of world-class education that they expected when it came to getting access to the internet. They were incredibly frustrated that the internet kept dropping out. Doctors concerned with e-health came and complained about the fact that they could not get the information that they needed for their patients and the operation of their practices. We had small businesses coming to talk to us about the fact that they constantly found themselves knocked out of their computers and the internet and were constantly frustrated by the slowness of the connection. Young people said they could not download the kinds of videos and games they wanted. I even recall one particular gentleman who was frustrated at his failure to get access to the kinds of sites he wanted to use for—to put it euphemistically—‘recreational purposes’. It was a litany of complaints, and that is the legacy of the Howard government.

I am therefore very happy to support the Rudd Labor government’s commitment in this area and to speak in support of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network Measures—Network Information) Bill 2009 because we are committed to regional and rural Australia. As the minister said in his letter of 7 April 2009, this is not ‘a broadband bandaid’ as proposed by the previous government. This is in fact a superhighway. This is a superinfrastructure plan. It has been likened to the Snowy River scheme and not only is it a wonderful opportunity for university students, small business operators, those involved in recreational pursuits and those involved in the medical and allied health professions but also it will enable farmers in my community in the Lockyer Valley and the Fassifern Valley to get access to the information that they need on websites run by organisations like the National Farmers Federation, the Queensland dairy association and others that will help them in the management and operation of their farms in these rural communities which are the lifeblood of regional and rural Australia.

What we are proposing here in this legislation is to amend part 27A of the Telecommunications Act to impose a requirement to provide information if requested on utilities as well as telecommunications carriers. It sets out the purposes for which the information is permitted to be disclosed and makes very clear that it is able to be disclosed and used by Commonwealth officials and advisers for the purpose of the implementation study for the National Broadband Network. If appropriate, that information can be used for other purposes associated with the broadband telecommunications network as designated by the minister. There is also a sunset clause attached to the amendments.

We are carrying out an implementation study which will provide a detailed rollout schedule. That is important. We are making sure that the $4.7 billion that we are putting in will be an upfront statement of the government’s bona fides and intention to ensure that NBN Co. will operate and do what we said it will do, namely, build the National Broadband Network. The company will invest up to $43 billion over eight years, which will make a huge difference to the people of the city of Ipswich and of the rural communities and towns in my electorate of Blair. We are absolutely determined that 90 per cent fibre-to-the-premises coverage takes place. We are determined that 100 megabits per second will be delivered to consumers. We think this is important. I do not share the sentiment of the member for Mayo, who was prepared to say that 12 megabits is good enough and most people would not know the difference. That is not what my constituents tell me and it is not what the businesses and farmers in rural and regional Australia believe either.

This legislation and the National Broadband Network are important. Let me give you a couple of examples of why it is important. I do mobile offices around my electorate regularly and I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who tell me that, just outside Ipswich in the rural areas, they cannot get the kind of internet connection and coverage they desire. Large schools like West Moreton Anglican College on the periphery of the city of Ipswich inside the city’s municipal boundaries—a great school of about 15 years duration, a wonderful P-12 school—have the frustration of finding their internet connection dropped and lost on almost a weekly basis. This makes it difficult for the school. Ross Switzer, the principal, has talked to me about this and I have met with senior management and trustees of the board about this. It causes immense frustration for wonderful schools like WestMAC and to the parents who send their children to schools like this. It is inexcusable that in the 21st century this can happen at large schools like WestMAC. Fortunately, through efforts we have made and through the efforts of the school, we have been able to improve the situation, but we have had tremendous frustration with Telstra and with the whole process. If children cannot get access to the internet, how in the world can they possibly complete assignments, tutorials and examinations? If we want to make sure that we build the education revolution, if we want to make sure that our children—whether they live in Maroon or Melbourne, in Ropeley or Redfern—have the same kind of access to a good education, we need to make sure that they get access to an internet connection that will not simply drop out and punt them off the internet.

This legislation is extremely important and the National Broadband Network is absolutely vital for South-East Queensland. One in seven people in this country live in South-East Queensland and we will see more than a million people take up residence in South-East Queensland in the next 10 to 20 years. This morning, among a bipartisan crowd at a breakfast held by the South-East Queensland mayors, and hosted by Campbell Newman, the LNP Lord Mayor of Brisbane, there was talk about the need for greater infrastructure in South-East Queensland. I can assure my constituents who may be listening that we are doing everything we can to ensure that the physical infrastructure in South-East Queensland improves. The best example of that is the upgrade to the Ipswich motorway in my electorate, which is creating 6,700 jobs along the connection between Ipswich and Brisbane. The National Broadband Network will create thousands of jobs in its construction and its maintenance. It will facilitate greater productivity among businesses and among our employees and across the four million people who work in small business and the 1.9 million people who own and operate small businesses in this country. This gives small business a greater chance both domestically and internationally.

The National Broadband Network is vital infrastructure for the 21st century. I am pleased for the member for Braddon that he has seen the National Broadband Network first rolled out in Tasmania. He is a good member and he has advocated on this issue for a long time. I know that the Tasmanian members, who are all on this side of the House because the good people of Tasmania have seen the sense to return five Labor members to this House, are pleased that the government has used Tasmania as the first cab off the rank for the National Broadband Network. The people in my constituency of Blair know that the National Broadband Network is in the long-term interests of this country. They know that it is vital infrastructure and they know that those opposite have been obstructionist and that they have been procrastinators when it comes to the National Broadband Network.

The Labor Party is the party to help small businesses. We are the ones who have done it—from the trade practices legislation in the 1970s, which gave small business a chance to compete against big business, to the lowering of tariffs to the internationalisation of the economy. We want to make sure that small business gets a greater chance, and the National Broadband Network will help small business compete with large businesses domestically and internationally. We want to make sure that that happens.

I believe firmly that we would not be in the situation we are in today with so many of the problems that we have in telecommunication in this country if the previous government had stopped and listened to the voice of the Australian people with respect to the privatisation of Telstra. The coalition should do what they say and support this legislation here. We know that the shadow Treasurer, on his first day, said that improving broadband would be a good starting point. Amen to that. He is right: it would be. It is a pity that that starting point did not happen years and years ago.

We should guarantee, as the shadow minister has said, that the people of Tasmania will get broadband services—and we are guaranteeing that they will. We are guaranteeing across the country that broadband services will be improved. What we are doing here vastly exceeds what Telstra has proposed and does. It will vastly improve on OPEL. It will make a big difference to the constituents of my seat of Blair in South-East Queensland. It is pro-jobs, pro-infrastructure, pro-business and pro the economy, and I am happy to support it.

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