Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

That contribution shows the kind of thinking on telecommunications in this country that has condemned or, I should say, consigned those opposite to mistakes for years on broadband. In fact, I would say that, from the top down, they all suffer from reverse broadband Midas touch. Every time they touch broadband they stuff it up. The argument made by the member for Mallee is a clear example. To be fair to you, Member for Mallee, you are not the first time to put this argument. The first one to try to argue this line was your Prime Minister way back when he was first appointed as the then opposition shadow communications minister. The Padding Manning book, the biography of Malcolm Turnbull, says:

For all his industry experience, some of Turnbull's early steps were amateurish. At first he appeared to line up with his leader believing the whole world was going wireless and this would make FTTP redundant.

That was the argument back then, Member for Mallee. In an op ed that he wrote, he said:

Wireless broadband has been growing at nearly ten times the rate of fixed-line broadband, whose penetration has remained fairly static. The convenience and flexibility of wireless is compelling and likely to become more so. It will be a fierce competitor with the new network.

This was the canard, this was the dummy argument, being put out so you would not rollout fibre; you would just rely on wireless. So what is the truth?

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