Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the motion, because the motion is totally bogus. It does not go to the real infrastructure crisis that we have in telecommunications, particularly in regional Australia and central Victoria. Before Minister Malcolm Turnbull took the reins and became the Minister for Communication, there was a plan. There was a roll-out plan for central Victoria, and we were progressing through that plan. That plan has stalled. When did it stall? It stalled at the time of roll-out to my electorate.

In Bendigo in central Victoria, we are in the midst of a telecommunications crisis, because we have a problem with telecommunications infrastructure. Prior to this government coming to power, we had a plan. Right now, if Labor was still in government, fibre to the premises would be rolled out. The contracts were set to be signed but Bendigo has missed out. And we are falling behind the rest of Australia and the rest of regional Victoria—places like Ballarat, Geelong and Shepparton—because they are getting the roll-out.

When it comes to the NBN we have had a number of smaller areas switched on to the fixed wireless. We have had a number of farming communities switch on to the satellite. But what we still do not have, to this day, is a plan for the rest. We do not have, today, a plan for Bendigo. We do not have today a plan for Woodend, Kyneton, Castlemaine—the major population centres. It puts those areas further behind the digital divide.

The reason why this motion is bogus is that it is a smokescreen for what is actually going on in the bush and in the country. Nowhere in the government's plan have they talked about the wholesale price. Under the former plan, the NBN was going to fix the divide between city and country and ensure equity. Yes, it is more expensive to deliver services to the country, that is why Labor, which is the only party that truly stands up for country areas and regional areas, said there would be a single wholesale price. So regardless of where you lived, it was to be the same wholesale price. You cannot leave it to the market when it comes to the country. It is simply more expensive because there are further distances. Labor gets that and it had a plan around the wholesale price.

Yet today, while we stand here debating this ridiculous motion, there is no comment from the government about the wholesale price when it comes to regional areas. There is no plan from this government about what they are going to do in Bendigo. We knew prior to the election that the rollout would be happening right now through the main streets of Bendigo and into our main towns. We knew that was the plan, but today we are still waiting. And as we speak there are people from iLoddon Mallee coming to this House, meeting with the minister to say: 'What are we going to get? We do not know what we're going to get and we don't know when we're going to get it. Are we going to get fibre to the node?' Again, another disaster for regional Victoria because we are further distances from the node, so we have to pay more.

What the coalition in government have is half a plan. They have a 'We'll build it to the corner—maybe' plan. They have a, 'We'll let you go through the coaxial cables, through the pay network maybe' plan. They have a, 'We may go to the basement' plan, which does not work in a town where we do not have high-rises. They have a, 'We may go to your estate' plan. Bendigo is on hold and our economic future is on hold until we get a plan, and that is why it is so important that the minister actually comes out and outlines his plan for Bendigo and central Victoria. At the moment the few homes that have been able to connect to the NBN, they are embracing it and are excited. These are the homes in our small towns like Tarnagulla, these are the homes that are in the outlying areas of Malmsbury, these are the homes where they are excited and they are clicking onto the NBN because for the first time they have decent internet access.

Yet in our other areas, whether you be in Bendigo Central or in towns like Woodend, they are falling behind. Every time it rains the copper network in our area fails and people ring up my office. So today my office in Bendigo, because we had rain over the weekend, will have more complaints about the failing copper network. And that is the fundamental flaw with the government's plan and why they have not released it—that is, it relies on a failing copper network. If we are serious about connecting to the world and serious about connecting to the regions, then we need the NBN and not more smokescreens like this ridiculous motion.

See this speech in context