Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to follow the member for Cowper in speaking to this report. It is no surprise at all that the opposition members would get up and criticise this report. It is no surprise at all that the opposition would put in a dissenting report. I think the member for Greenway put it very succinctly today when she followed the member for Wentworth: the fact is that the opposition are fundamentally opposed to this policy reform.

It is unfortunate that a committee of this nature, with the important role that it has before it, could not operate in a bipartisan way. But the reality is that you have members on this committee whose sole intention it is to ensure this reform does not go ahead; to spend all of their time questioning witnesses as to whether there is not another course that we can follow—that is, going outside the terms of reference, not looking at whether NBN Co. and the government are fulfilling the commitment the government made to the Australian people, which the Australian people fully embraced, but instead trying to say, 'That's not what we need.' We heard it from the member for Wentworth today. I did not catch all of his speech, but I am not surprised that the few seconds I caught talked about fibre to the node once again.

The fact is that we are not as a committee investigating whether there are other options to fibre to the premise. Our responsibility as a committee is to look at what the government committed to deliver in announcing the rollout of the NBN and the establishment of NBN Co. and make sure that we are fulfilling the commitment we made to the Australian people. In fact, according to the resolution of appointment, the committee's responsibility is to report every six months to this parliament, commencing 31 August 2011, until the NBN is complete and operational. The resolution also says:

… the Committee—

shall—

provide progress reports to both Houses of Parliament and to shareholder Ministers on:

(a) the rollout of the NBN … in relation to the Government’s objective for NBN Co. Limited (NBN Co.) to:

(i) connect 93 per cent of Australian homes, schools and businesses with fibre-to-the premises technology providing broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, with a minimum fibre coverage obligation of 90 per cent of Australian premises; and

(ii) service all remaining premises by a combination of next-generation fixed wireless and satellite technologies providing peak speeds of at least 12 megabits per second;

(b) the achievement of take-up targets (including premises passed and covered and services activated) as set out in NBN Co.’s Corporate Plan released on 20 December 2010 as revised from time to time;

(c) network rollout performance including service levels and faults;

(d) the effectiveness of NBN Co. in meeting its obligations as set out in its Stakeholder Charter;

(e) NBN Co.’s strategy for engaging with consumers and handling complaints;

…   …   …

(g) Any other matter pertaining to the NBN rollout that the Committee considers relevant …

This is the resolution of appointment for this committee, not what those on the other side want it to be. They are running off on tangents all the time just to prove that they have another idea. Their idea is not as good. It will not deliver the speeds that the NBN Co. will but it is cheaper. That is their entire policy: 'It's not as good but, hey, it's cheaper.' That is their selling point. Well, I can tell the member for Cowper, who uses the analogy of people lining up outside the doors of Apple wanting an iPhone or an iPad but of people not lining up at Stephen Conroy's door—

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