Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank very much the member for Fowler for his question and note that members of his local community will soon see the rollout of the NBN in parts of Liverpool, Ashcroft and Mount Prichard. We do indeed have an ambitious plan for the future that positions our nation for the Asian century to take advantage of the opportunities that are there and to make sure they are spread throughout the community. That is what we are doing, and part of that has to be investing in modern, nation-building infrastructure—including the NBN.

The NBN is critical infrastructure to embrace the opportunities that are there for the Asian century. We have in Australia suffered from the tyranny of distance between ourselves on such a vast island continent and our distance from the rest of the world. The NBN will bring us that much closer and overcome those distances so that location becomes unimportant. That is why we, like our counterparts in Japan, Singapore and South Korea, are investing in super fast broadband. This will be a major boost for business enabling all Australian companies better access to Asian markets, so unlocking opportunities for greater regional collaboration and innovation and opening up new educational opportunities for our schools, our TAFEs and our universities—providing access to the best available resources from across the nation and the world. With the right plan we can maximise the benefits from the new middle class in Asia by creating high-paying, highly-skilled jobs for Australians. Our ambitious infrastructure agenda is a key part of this plan.

In addition to the NBN, we are investing $36 billion in our Nation Building Program in critical road, rail, port and intermodal infrastructure so that we can get our goods to markets and so that we can engage in trade in the region; the full duplication of the Hume Highway, which will be completed over the coming months; the rebuilding of one-third of the interstate rail freight network; and the building of the Moorebank intermodal terminal in south-west Sydney, which will create 1,700 jobs on a permanent basis and provide real opportunities for employment in south-west Sydney as well as make a big difference to the functioning of the port at Port Botany and to our efficient nation-building infrastructure, because it is on the interstate rail freight network as well. We have this plan. Those opposite are showing today, yet again, that all they have is relentless negativity.

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