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

Can I say that the most certain way of slowing the progress of the NBN would be to stop building it. That is what those opposite have in mind with their inferior, slower, alternative plan that is not of course the NBN. They have realised that the NBN is quite popular, so they are now pretending that they are going to keep it. It will cost just about as much, but for a far inferior product in which they have acknowledged would need to be upgraded before they have even started. I think it is right to actually get the infrastructure right first-up. If this mob were in charge of the Sydney Harbour Bridge it would have had one lane both ways. It is absurd.

From time to time the member for Wentworth says it is going too slow, but this week his Senate leader, the esteemed Senator Abetz, had this to say on 3 June:

… the reason that these talks need to be held is that there has been this indecent haste with the rollout of NBN.

It is going too slow, according to the member for Wentworth, but his Senate leader says it is going too fast. The fact is the rollout of the NBN is happening in every state and territory across the country. So far this year new areas switched on include Gungahlin, Toowoomba, Coffs Harbour, Bacchus Marsh, Hobart, Gosford, Blacktown and Townsville. There are well over 50,000 NBN services live across Australia, providing enhanced broadband to homes, businesses and schools, and NBN's take-up rates are world records. We also have fixed wireless NBN services being provided from 69 sites, including Ballarat, Darwin, Geraldton, Toowoomba, Tamworth and many other areas. Construction has commenced at over 115 additional sites and, overall, more than 770 sites have received planning approvals.

This is a project which common sense tells you, as it ramps-up, it is possible to do it faster and faster. It is logical that the initial stages of the rollout of the NBN would be slower than the middle stages and the middle stages would be slower than the final stages. That is the way that infrastructure happens. Whether it be the NBN or the building of a road or a new rail line. If you look at the regional rail network in Victoria, which is in my portfolio, you will see that we are now expending over $100 million every month on what is the largest infrastructure commitment to public transport that any Australian government has given to any project. It ramps-up with huge benefits for Melbourne but also, importantly, for Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong. We on this side of the House understand infrastructure and the way that it develops. We understand that you need to get it right the first time. We understand that you need to be committed to put that investment in and that you get a return on that investment. Indeed, the NBN will deliver a return, not just an economic return but a social return as well because of the benefits it will bring to the provision of education and health services, because of the opportunity that will be created, particularly in regional Australia, at overcoming the tyranny of distance that has been a disadvantage for people in regional Australia, compared with their counterparts in CBD electorates, or the distance of Australia from the rest of the world. This is a very important project. The rollout is proceeding. The only threat to the rollout is the failure to re-elect the Labor government in September.

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