Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Fibre Deployment) Bill 2011. This bill is designed to ensure that fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure, rather than traditional copper connections, is installed in new broadacre urban infill and urban renewal developments of more than 100 premises. The coalition does support regulations which would ensure that fibre to the premises is used in greenfields estates, but we still have concerns.

Firstly, we have concerns about changes to the market structure. Under the arrange­ments with developers, the NBN Co. will pay for the pits and pipes of new infrastructure, a cost that has traditionally been borne by developers. This will see existing providers become uncompetitive. Secondly, there appears to have been a lack of consultation with the industry and an eleventh-hour decision that the NBN establish technical standards which will be too onerous for small providers to meet. It is very important that we get clarity on this.

In the electorate of Maranoa, we have the Surat coal basin, with a huge development and growth that we have not seen since almost the early development of that part of Queensland. There are a number of developments going out there—greenfields sites. The developers of these sites have been in touch with me. They have been trying to operate and develop these housing estates, which are very much needed, but they have had this uncertainty hanging over them about who is going to pay for what—whether it is going to be the developer and, if so, whether they are going to be reimbursed, or whether it is going to be Telstra, and whether it has to be copper wire or optic fibre cable. Many of these developers have been frustrated because they could not get an answer out of either—the responsibility was being shifted. Obviously this legislation is long overdue and is supported by the coalition.

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