Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to speak on this report: Broadening the debate—inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network. The report was prepared following an inquiry held by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, chaired by the member for Cunningham and helped enormously by an enthusiastic, very sharp secretariat. I thank them for their terrific assistance through the inquiry and I note the presence in the chamber of my colleague the member for Throsby, whom I enjoyed working with on this inquiry, because we believe very passionately in the role of this network in transforming the country's economic and social future. Members, regardless of their politics, largely worked cooperatively on this inquiry—though I have to say I was surprised that a minority report was prepared, but I will talk more about that later.

As someone with a deep interest in the positive impact that technology can have on improving our society, I was an enthusiastic supporter of this inquiry. Because the demand for improved internet access is not disputed, albeit except by elements of a politically motivated and policy challenged opposition, there is a need to help harness and coordinate the demand and provide an improved platform for that demand for internet services. Building the NBN is one step, but levering off that platform to improve economic, health, education and government service delivery is the next important challenge, which is why this report is particularly timely.

The report covers two crucial areas. In the first part it outlines the impact of the NBN on delivering government services, achieving health outcomes, improving the delivery of education and, importantly, the impact it will have on regional economic outcomes and employment opportunities. The report then charts out the work needed to optimise the capacity and technological requirements of the network to deliver the outcomes.

Close to 20 separate recommendations were drawn up as a result of the inquiry hearings and the submissions received. From my perspective, some of the key recommendations included, firstly, the need for government to keep implementing broadband enabled technologies into its own services and operations to help improve the way it works and help boost NBN uptake; secondly, the development of a comprehensive engagement strategy incorporating a range of approaches to promote the uptake of broadband and digital technologies during the rollout; and, thirdly, strong support for increased levels of research and innovation in the private sector, recognising the NBN's crucial importance in driving innovation within our nation.

There were two other recommendations I was particularly supportive of: finding ways to assist those who are jammed within the digital divide by improving their access to high-speed internet facilities, and promoting the development of relevant skills. I have previously spoken in the House and in this place about the great work being done by some community groups, for example, in helping people 45 years and older to learn about how to use computers and navigate their way through the net and various software programs that we take for granted in this place. The exceptionally useful program rolled out by this government, the Broadband for Seniors kiosks, is a great idea. We need to keep building on this model—and this is one of the recommendations put forward by this report. Another important recommendation that stood out to me was recommendation No. 7, which recognised the important roles of public libraries and community centres and which acknowledged that, with some work by government, we can transform these centres as public access points, enabling people to not only take their first steps onto the internet but also benefit from the improvements that come from using the net to improve government service delivery. Developing public access points will, hopefully, provide people with an opportunity to vault over those barriers. It will, potentially, open up people's eyes to a new path in their life, holding out the prospect that they may be able to take up a role in the IT sector through the use of IT and the NBN, develop a new service or start a business of their own. These are opportunities that open up with access to high-speed internet.

It is important to note that, despite the fact that the cost of technology has started to come down, getting access to IT hardware and software is still a barrier to engaging with technology. On this point of barriers to access, I have been very critical about the cost of IT hardware and software in this country. It is enormously relevant to this issue, where we are poised to have a new broadband network rolled out across the country. I have been vocal about the price differentials that exist for Australian consumers of hardware and software and about how they have been seriously disadvantaged, compared to consumers in the US and UK, who get access to these products sometimes at 80 per cent less cost. The value of the net to Australia was recently spelt out by a phenomenally useful report entitled The connected continent, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics for Google. I was stunned to see that the opposition communications spokesperson, the member for Wentworth, deride the findings of this report. That is no surprise. The coalition criticise climate change scientists, they hector economists and now, apparently, Google is also a target for championing the internet by a political party that is more interested in transforming themselves into policy Neanderthals. But this report spelt out the economic value of the internet to the economy and it argued that the direct economic value of the internet to the Australian economy is currently worth approximately $50 billion, or 3.6 per cent of GDP.

As much as there is a focus on two-speed economies that exist in this country, we need to celebrate and champion the value of the IT sector to this nation and our future. It provides jobs to almost 200,000 Australians—for instance, through software firms, internet service providers and companies providing e-commerce and online advertising services. To put that into context, the generation of 190,000 jobs as a result of occupations directly related to the internet compares pretty favourably to the mining sector, which, by May this year, employed 217,000 people.

The wider benefits of the internet are especially important. The Deloitte report argues that approximately $27 billion is generated in productivity increases alone to business and government in the form of improvements in the way they work and provide services.

I was also interested to read that Deloitte put a dollar value on the benefits of the internet to households, arguing that, for example, households get about $53 billion in benefits in the form of added convenience through things such as online banking, bill paying and accessing goods and services. Households and consumers are moving to seize on these benefits. For example, just look at how the Woolworths app shot up to be the most popular app on Apple's app store on the first day of its release.

The reason I mention that is that I feel strongly that IT pricing is an anchor on business and households, holding back export focused businesses, especially small businesses, that are competing with counterparts in other countries that are getting access to software and hardware at prices that are seriously lower than those charged here. Some small businesses have contacted me fuming that some software that is essential to them may cost them $10,000 more than what it costs their competitors in the US.

I am happy to say that I have had very productive discussions with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the member for Lindsay, and his advisers about this issue. If we are to maximise the benefits of the NBN, as outlined in this report, and if we are to ensure our businesses are competitive on the world stage and that households are not needlessly burdened by artificially high costs, then we do need to ask major firms, such as Microsoft, Apple, Lenovo or Adobe why they charge Australian consumers and businesses in a way that they would never dream of doing in their home markets.

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