Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is somewhat galling to have to listen to the member for Blaxland tell us about failures on broadband rollout when, in fact, the greatest failure on the NBN rollout came from those opposite. By 30 June 2012 they were supposed to have delivered 137,000 connections. In fact, the correct number, the number that came out, was 3,867. That is about three per cent of the original target. Scroll forward one year to June 2013: they were supposed to have connected 317,000; in fact, the number was well under 40,000. The failure of those opposite to deliver their promises on NBN was legendary. We have heard many times from the minister for telecommunications about the Conrovian delusion that resulted in Australians believing they were going to be connected to high-speed broadband, when in fact they were not. Many of those failed connections were in my electorate of Hume.

It goes without saying that connecting small business to broadband is one of the great imperatives of this modern age and a great objective of this government. We know that businesses with fewer than 20 employees employ about 50 per cent of Australians and, if we broaden the definition of small business to those employing fewer than 200, we go closer to 75 per cent. An extraordinary proportion of Australians are employed in small businesses, and that is growing and has been growing for many years. It is one of the great structural trends in our economy that small business is the key employer in our economy. It is the engine of growth. But it is also an engine of innovation, because small businesses experiment. Small businesses have a tolerance for failure. It is no surprise that it was not Microsoft that came up with Google or Facebook or Twitter. They were all small businesses. In fact, the greatest innovations at Microsoft itself occurred when it was a very small business in the back of a garage. If you look at my electorate, small businesses are driving the economy. They are driving growth. Brumby Aircraft, in Cowra, is innovating in the area of design of small aircraft. Sarajane Furniture is competing with the Chinese in low-cost furniture. AFS Products Group has come up with innovative structural products for multiresidential construction. All of those businesses need high-speed internet.

One of the great things we have already heard that this government has done is to reset the focus for the NBN to prioritise those areas of greatest need. Nowhere is there greater need for high-speed internet than rural areas and the urban fringe. Also, importantly, this government has focused on choosing the right technology for the right location. That is exactly what I am seeing in my electorate. We are seeing the rapid rollout of towers in my electorate. We are seeing the accelerated rollout of fibre. We are stopping the bleeding, the extraordinary bleeding, we saw from the satellite technology choice made by those opposite—not buying enough capacity and overselling satellite to try and reach their numbers for the rollout of the NBN.

In my electorate over the next 18 months we will connect 27,000 premises by fibre—that is, about 60 per cent of the electorate. We already now have several thousand connected by NBN fixed wireless towers. We have 12 operating already, with four to come in the next couple months. We will see in the next 12 months or so the launch of two satellites which will deal with the single biggest problem for the NBN, which is those areas that are unable to be reached by other technologies like fibre or fixed wireless.

This is a great imperative for this government. We are already seeing results. We are already seeing people in my electorate incredibly pleased, incredibly happy, that they are able to get very high speed broadband through technology that is well suited to their location. I have no doubt that the results that we have delivered—and those opposite failed to deliver—will continue in the coming weeks, months and years.

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