Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, they are very excited about debt and deficit, because they are best at it. So when we talk about rollout and delivery, let us talk about the South-West in my part of the world, which has been a major beneficiary of the coalition's investment in communications. I personally want to thank the Prime Minister and Minister Fletcher, who is at the table, for their support in getting better broadband sooner into the south west. It was nowhere under the Labor debacle. When my electorate was looking at NBN under Labor, it was under 'next decade or beyond'. My region today, under the coalition, is seeing NBN rolling out right now. Boxes are being built right throughout the electorate, cables are being run down the streets and local technicians are at work. There are great opportunities for local technicians and local employment, with local people doing the work. That is happening as I speak right now, and not from 2020 onwards, as Labor said for my electorate. Our coalition NBN project has ensured that the rollout will be completed sooner, cheaper for taxpayers and more affordably for the consumers of the product itself.

We will soon see approximately 55,000 premises in my electorate of Forrest connected to the NBN by means of fixed line technology and an additional 3,320 premises getting access through wireless technology throughout the South-West, years ahead of the time under the costly and inefficient Labor broadband proposal. As I said, we were looking well beyond 2020. It was a never, never Labor plan. Of course, 6½ thousand premises went live last week in Bunbury. They are now getting access to the national broadband network. They are being connected, and construction is well underway and continuing throughout the Bunbury and broader region.

The greater Bunbury region will see a total of 32,000 premises accessing the NBN via fixed line technology much faster than previously thought. Not 2020 and beyond but today. It would have been never under Labor. Construction is also underway in Busselton. Under Labor, they were also not going to have access till beyond 2020. We saw street side NBN cabinets installed there last month. Again, it was local technicians doing much of the work. In the Busselton region 2,300 premises will soon be connected by fixed line to the NBN out of a total of 16,600 premises that will over time get fixed line access to the NBN. Another 2,500 will get wireless access. A further 4,300 premises—we are talking about delivery here—will be connected by fixed line in Eagle Bay, Quindalup, and Dunsborough.

It was really fantastic to see the interim satellite launched—the first of NBN's two world-class communication satellites. The Sky Muster means that the wait for access to the NBN is over for many of the more remote homes and businesses not only in Forrest but right around Australia. Last week the minister announced the Sky Muster was open for business—that is what you call delivery. Eligible customers can now apply to their local internet service provider for a broadband connection.

The coalition's NBN is effective and efficient, because it has a proper business model to operate under. I welcome nbn co limited's half yearly results, including customer research showing the level of satisfaction with broadband services delivered using fibre-to-the node technology are the same as those using the fibre-to-the-premises technology. These results are a clear indication that the coalition's approach to delivering the NBN sooner, more effectively and more cost-effectively is working. Minister Fletcher, I congratulate you and the Prime Minister for your leadership in this space, seeing better broadband sooner delivered to the people of Forrest in my electorate.

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