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

I rise to raise with the minister representing the Minister for Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy issues in relation to infrastructure and particularly the NBN. Last night I spoke in the chamber about the importance of investing in infrastructure in communities like mine across the country and, importantly, the investment of the National Broadband Network. I talked about other important initiatives which of course the minister in his own portfolio is well aware of, such as the Moreton Bay rail link, the causeway project which we just announced with the Regional Development Authority and the new North Lakes Youth Space, but I also talked about the announcement of the National Broadband Network and that last year we saw the commencement of the rollout for the National Broadband Network in areas such as Aspley which covers the electorate of Lilley and also Petrie. Just earlier this year we heard the announcement of the three-year plan which included suburbs of Aspley, Bridgeman Downs, Carseldine, Fitzgibbon, Griffin, Mango Hill and North Lakes in my electorate and also other suburbs in the outer northern area which I understand also fall within the electorates of Dickson and Longman. This announcement of the three-year rollout plan includes particularly areas like North Lakes. It is a new estate, it is only 10 years old, and it has still got about four to five years of development ahead of it. It has got a lot of black spots even though it is a new development and there is a desperate need for fast broadband, in fact any broadband, in this area. I am interested to hear from the minister what benefit he thinks there is for my community, not just a lot of the new households in the area but benefits to the community for business, for health and for education. For example, the new Metro North Brisbane Medicare Local has just established its office at North Lakes and is promoting e-health, so I am very keen to hear from the minister what sort of benefits can flow in my electorate of Petrie in these areas as a consequence of the NBN rollout.

See this speech in context