Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

They underestimated the number of trees, Member for McEwen. They have entered into a whole range of agreements that have been problematic. When this project was conceived, the iPhone was released. Two years later the iPad was released. This project has not taken into account the huge shift in the amount of people using mobile networks.

One of the other concerns with this is that there has been a neglect of mobile services. There has been a total disregard for the situation with regard to mobile services in regional areas. In fact, Senator Conroy has said we are going to wait until the wireless network is rolled out in 2015 before we address the issue highlighted in the Regional Telecommunications Review—that of poor mobile services. I think the Australian people would be concerned as to whether the wireless rollout will be completed by 2015. We are not even up to half the scheduled rollout rate so far. I think you would have to, once again, believe in Santa Claus or the Easter bunny to believe that this government will bring it in by 2015.

Another interesting factor was in relation to the interim satellite service cap. It was revealed at the last round of the committee hearings that the interim satellite service cap of 48,000 customers would be reached by 2014, and the government has no intention of increasing the cap. So some people in remote Australia and in many areas of regional Australia will be left with no internet service for more than two years, until the long-term satellite solution is brought online. People who rely on the satellite internet will have no other option. The interim satellite solution is the only link for a range of customers.

The government said that it would be too expensive to increase the cap beyond 48,000. The minister said that it would cost $86 million to increase the cap by 7,000 customers from 48,000 to 55,000. I have to say that every person I have consulted in the satellite industry has said that those numbers are rubbish. It is widely accepted that there is sufficient capacity in the market to increase the cap to around 75,000 customers—an additional 27,000. The published cost for the interim satellite service is $300 million for 48,000 customers and, when you do the maths, that works out to be around $6,250 per customer. But, based on the minister's figures, to add 7,000 to the cap was going to cost an additional $12,285 a customer. How does that work? If you have been able to set up your overheads and all the costs of setting up the interim satellite solution at a total cost of $6,250 per customer, why does it cost you around double that to purchase additional capacity when it is available in the market? That is a mystery that remains unsolved.

If the cap is not increased the teams of installers currently working on the interim satellite solution will be disbanded and there will be a whole installation system and labour force that will need to be rebuilt from the ground up, which will mean it will take even longer for the NBN to roll out its long-term satellite solution. In reality the government has simply abandoned regional Australia by its failure to address this very important shortfall in the project with the need to continue the interim satellite solution past the cap. This is the government's track record, or NBN Co.'s track record, of being late with regard to everything.

This is a project that is of concern to taxpayers. It is a project that has not passed the test of accountability. It is a project that revolves around concealment and deceit rather than true transparency. I believe that, if the coalition were elected on 14 September, it will be the first opportunity to view the true status of this project and the true situation with regard to progress and costs, which have been concealed from the parliament to this point in time. So, I certainly raise very real concerns about the future of the project and I raise very real concerns about the accountability to this parliament.

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