Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would have thought you might have reminded the member for Hunter, Deputy Speaker, when he was making his comments, but, be that as it may, I am getting back to the NBN.

A couple of key and critical issues have been reported to me about the NBN. People have come to me and said, 'I'm not getting the increased speed.' Well, a lot of the increased speed comes with cost to the individual. If people want higher bandwidth when they are on the NBN, then the plan that they must subscribe to will come at an increased cost. One of the unfortunate things is that the Labor Party, when in government, led everyone to believe they would have super high-speed broadband at no additional cost to them as an individual. It comes down to the basic plan. If you go onto the NBN and you want to pay the same price as you paid for the speed that you were getting under ADSL then that is the speed that you will get off the NBN optical fibre.

This government has rolled out the NBN across Australia and we are on time and on plan to deliver it across the nation. This was a basket case that we inherited. Labor kept putting out proposals of what they would do and where it would roll out, and, each time there was a plan, there were adjustments: 'We're not delivering. We're not going down that area.' Deputy Speaker, what they were doing was playing with people. I give you proof of this. You only need to look, in our region of the Hunter, at how little was done with the commencement under the Labor government—nothing. In fact, more has been done by private developers who have had to install the optical fibre in new developments than was done by NBN when Labor were in government. More was done by private corporations installing optical fibre as a part of their development rollout, as required by legislation.

So enough of the rhetoric from the member for Hunter, who on, I think, about four occasions prior to today has made a fleeting mention of the NBN. Where was his standing-up, within his own party, to Senator Conroy and for his area, which he claims he so valiantly represented and has now deserted? Where was their NBN rollout? The same could be said for the former member for Newcastle, who used to carry on, up hill and down dale, about Thornton, but there was not one attempt to roll the NBN out through Thornton. I am glad to see that it is now in the current plan, and I am glad to see that the Turnbull government will deliver this NBN rollout as laid out. We are not giving false hopes. These are dates of build commencements when the community will see the trenches, the excavators and the pipe layers in the streets—delivery, real and measurable.

In relation to the optical fibre, anything is better than the pair gain that the people in areas like Thornton suffer. We need to make sure that they have access. Under the Labor Party they might have had their rolled gold system, but at the end of the day at what expense? At what expense to the taxpayer? Remember—and I ask people to go back—when the original NBN plan—

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

God, you sound like a raving parrot! Have you ever thought about having any manners?

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