Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion from the member for Robertson in relation to the NBN rollout. It asks the House to place on record that:

(a) under the previous Government, at the time of the last election just 2 per cent of premises across Australia could access the National Broadband Network (NBN); and

(b) since the election the NBN rollout has ramped up significantly and today around one in ten premises can access the NBN and under the NBN's new Corporate Plan, by June 2018, three in four premises will have access to the NBN;

(2) notes that:

(a) the NBN's 2016-2018 Corporate Plan reveals that a full fibre to the premises (FTTP) NBN could not be completed until 2026 at the earliest and could be as late as 2028—six to eight years later than the current Government's plan; and

(b) the NBN 2016-2018 Corporate Plan reveals that a full FTTP NBN would cost between $20 and $30 billion dollars more than the current Government's plan; and

(3) recognises that it is essential to deliver fast broadband to Australians sooner—not force Australians with no or poor broadband to wait more than a decade for the NBN.

The NBN was one of Labor's biggest and most expensive failures. The rollout under Labor was slow and costly. As the member for Robertson has said, at the time of the last election just two per cent of premises across Australia could access the NBN. Since the coalition came to government, the NBN rollout has ramped up. Today, one in 10 premises around Australia can access the NBN, including 15,000 homes in my electorate of Petrie, in areas like Aspley, Carseldine, Bridgeman Downs and Fitzgibbon, and a lot of new homes up in Mango Hill, North Lake and other premises surrounding. Our plan has always been to ensure people are able to access better broadband sooner and much more affordably.

I turn to the NBN's 2016-18 corporate plan. In October last year, I was pleased to see that most of the suburbs in my electorate had been prioritised for an NBN rollout. In fact, for every single household in my electorate, an NBN rollout will happen a year sooner than Labor's 2024 completion date. I think it is particularly important, given the federal coalition government's national innovation and science agenda, that it is rolled out as soon as possible. On the Brisbane City Council side of my electorate the internet connection does seem to be better than parts of the Moreton Bay area, regardless of whether you have NBN. That is why I have been fighting hard to make sure areas such as North Lakes, Mango Hill, Griffin and Rothwell are constructed as soon as possible. I am very pleased to re-announce today that construction will begin in those areas in July 2016 for some 5,020 priority premises. I want to thank the Prime Minister and the current minister for their help in ensuring North Lakes and Mango Hill have been prioritised, because as a new, high-growth area it has been lacking.

In the Redcliffe peninsula, many locals are already being contacted by nbn asking if they want to take in the HFC trial, which is the cable TV network. This was due to be scrapped by the previous government. But we have ensured that this can be utilised, still getting a superfast 100 megabits per second when most people are on 10. This is a great win for taxpayers. This will not just benefit people in the Redcliffe peninsula; it will also benefit people in Bald Hills, Bracken Ridge and Fitzgibbon, where construction will start in the second half of 2017. In Rothwell, NBN construction will start on priority homes by July this year. In Aspley, Bridgeman Downs and Carseldine more homes will begin in July 2017, and NBN construction will also begin in Deception Bay. In Burpengary East, construction will start on some 1,960 priority premises in July 2016. This means it will be delivered throughout Petrie some six to eight years earlier than it would have been under Labor. That is good news for people living locally.

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