Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to make some inquiries this afternoon about the broadband, communications and digital economy portfolio. I certainly commend the very fine work that is being done by both the minister here today and his colleague in the other place in relation to the rollout and the governance of the NBN. I know that it is met with very sincere enthusiasm in the part of the world that I represent. Indeed, one of the universities that is in my electorate has already talked to me about ways in which they might be able to take the opportunity advanced by the NBN to develop some telehealth, some medical applications, for the NBN and to pursue opportunities there in conjunction with other organisations. It is very welcome in educational institutions. I know that it is certainly welcome by small businesses and large businesses alike and, indeed, by residents in my part of the world.

NBN Co. is set to roll out fairly soon in Boronia and in and around the basin, at the northern end of my electorate and, at the same time, in the greenfield sites in the southern end of my electorate—the growth corridor. It is being very well received and there is much anticipation of the rollout in those areas, as there is across the Dandenong Ranges. Residents regularly report to me about the unreliability of the copper network. They appreciate all too readily its flaws. I know that the member for Wentworth would be aware of this, because he has been in my part of the world with the former member for La Trobe in recent weeks, admittedly to a fairly select audience there, but he certainly did come along. So I am sure he is familiar with the interest in the NBN's roll out to homes and businesses—not to somewhere down the street but right to people's doors. This is so that they can use the NBN for the transformative purpose that it was intended to have, such as for social use by people who might be isolated in the more remote parts of my electorate. It will be very beneficial for not only a lot of elderly residents who have taken an interest in our Broadband for Seniors program but, needless to say, also business applications.

I was recently at a forum which the Emerald small business group held with the Assistant Treasurer. I can certainly say that there was much interest in the NBN's application for business, particularly in that part of my electorate which is effectively on the urban rural fringe of Melbourne. I guess you might call it a peri-urban area. For people who may have to travel quite long distances to transact business, when the NBN is rolled out to that area it will be extremely beneficial, and there was much interest in it. Likewise, I have mentioned medical use and, of course, educational use for the NBN. Clearly, a great deal of work has been done right across government, not simply in this portfolio but in the health portfolio and the education portfolio to establish the NBN and to contemplate its applications immediately as it rolls out and into the future.

In light of this, I am particularly interested to ask about one transformative way in which the NBN might be best used by businesses, small and large, and that is in the context of cloud computing. Business operators are certainly acutely aware of the benefits that are presented to them by cloud computing, which enables them to have the potential to access quite powerful IT infrastructure without necessarily having to own it and operate it on site. It is a flexible means by which businesses and others can gain the benefits of the NBN network.

Today's internet, as all of us know, increasingly involves two-way communications through an interactive environment. Regrettably, those opposite routinely forget about the importance of upload speeds or upload capacity. Happily, we have not forgotten that. We are alive to it in the context of cloud computing. It is really unfortunate that those opposite have not seen the potential for cloud computing to advance business or the NBN as a means to advance business—those whom they purport so regularly to speak on behalf of.

My question today in light of all of this and in light of my evidently keen interest in the NBN is: are there particular ways through the budget and otherwise that the minister can advise about that the application of cloud computing and how it can be advanced by the NBN?

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