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

It is with great pleasure I rise to speak on this private member's motion because this is one of the big issues that we face. When we came to government, the NBN was a complete shambles—and that is being kind. Across most of the country, the project had completely stalled. I have started about eight companies in the course of my career. If there is one thing I have learnt in starting a new company it is that it is hard, it is risky and you rarely meet your time lines and budgets. In fact, the great Guy Kawasaki, who is a famous Silicon Valley investor, has always said, 'As a rule of thumb, I multiply revenues by 10 per cent when I look at a new start up.'

What the Labor Party was trying to do was to start up the largest infrastructure project in Australian history inside a start-up vehicle. It was never going to work. The numbers tell us everything we need to know. Labor totally underestimated the cost, the complexity and the time frames required for this project. As a result, released rollout schedules were unrealistic and totally inaccurate. They were always on one side and they were always way above what was going to be achieved. I cannot believe they are still defending the extraordinary pitiful work of Senator Conroy on this start-up vehicle which was never going to be successful. For instance, Labor originally forecasted that 2.7 million houses would be passed by fibre in the year they left government. It did not even come close. They then revised their forecast to 1.3 million passed by fibre. Again, they were never going to be close such was the bungling of this project.

The comprehensive strategic review, which was completed in December 2013 soon after we got into government, found that the new broadband network would only pass 467,000 houses—and that is pass, let alone connect. So that is 467,000 versus the original forecast of 2.7 million. Anyone who has been in a new business venture, who has started a new business venture of this level of complexity would know that is what is going to happen. But no-one over that side of that parliament really understands new business ventures. They do not understand how to start something new so they make these extraordinary mistakes and they end up with a shambles, a total shambles, which is what we had to deal with when we got into government.

To be able to access the NBN, you actually have to build it. I know it is a revelation for those opposite and they have failed on that most fundamental front. Their interim satellite solution in the bush was a total debacle. I have constituent after constituent coming to me saying that they are no longer connected to the internet. Why? Four times more people subscribed to the interim satellite service than the capacity that was established for it. It was a total disaster. Again, the work was not done. The visionary had no understanding of the detail that was necessary to deliver a genuine solution that was going to solve people's real problems.

The good news is that the NBN is now under new, competent management and is powering ahead, with more than 1.2 million premises now able to order a service and 546,000 families and businesses already online as paying customers. As the NBN announced last week, within three years about 9.1 million premises—where 76 per cent of Australians live and work—will be able to order a service. Under the coalition, the NBN will be completed by 2020, as against Labor's plan which conservatively, I think, would take until 2028. There is no point promising everybody a Rolls Royce if you are never going to get it, and that is exactly what those opposite did with the NBN. My electorate is suffering; I am suffering because I cannot connect to the ADSL where I live. It is a battle I have every day. Those opposite were going to get us there by 2028.

In Hume, we are making very, very good progress. We already have about 4½ thousand premises that are able to be connected on fixed wireless and 31,000 premises are to be rolled out over the coming weeks and months. Thank God that we have taken over the NBN.

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