Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am glad to speak today on the coalition's rollout of the National Broadband Network. It is being done efficiently and affordably, with all Australian premises to be connected by 2020. Under the coalition, the NBN is connecting more active users every month than Labor connected during its entire time in government. Under the coalition, the NBN has hit every rollout target we have set since coming into government. It is a fact that NBN is now available to more than one in four Australian premises, or more than 3.4 million premises, with more than 1.5 million active connections.

In my own electorate of Fisher, the rollout of the NBN is gathering pace, with more than 3,000 premises recently connected and ready for service in Wurtulla. Feedback from locals I have spoken to is that the latest work is already delivering faster and more reliable internet access, through fibre-to-the-node connections. As at 28 October, there were 30,694 homes and businesses ready for service in Fisher, and, of these, 11,250 had an active NBN connection. Connections to a further 11,237 homes and businesses are currently being rolled out. In October 2015, NBN Co released its three-year rollout plan, which forecast that, by the end of September 2018, approximately 66,160 homes and businesses in Fisher will either be ready for service or have connections under construction.

I have spoken to some local business owners in recent weeks about their NBN connections, including the owner of Wurtulla Newsagency, Gavin Yarrow, and the arrival of the NBN has made their businesses more efficient. Gavin does a lot of daily downloads for invoicing and for magazine subscriptions, which used to take him and his staff up to an hour. Now he tells me that the same task is completed in just a few minutes, and his new NBN service is actually cheaper than his old internet service.

While it is important to roll out the NBN in the areas where homes and businesses are most concentrated, it pleases me to say that there is also a strong focus on reaching regional and remote areas. The government recognises the vital importance of communications to people living, working and travelling in regional and remote Australia. That is why we have committed to prioritising the NBN rollout to under-served areas, where it is feasible to do so.

The first satellite, Sky Muster, was launched in October 2015. Indeed, there are currently 885 premises in the Fisher electorate eligible to order a satellite service where the standard service will not do the job. That is because connectivity in the form of the NBN or mobile coverage is an essential part of everyday life—for emergencies, natural disasters, businesses, agriculture, public safety, and staying in touch with family and friends. There is more government investment going into regional communications infrastructure than at any time before. The second satellite, Sky Muster II, successfully launched from French Guiana on 6 October, providing additional capacity for the delivery of health and education services as well as improving the productivity of agriculture and regional businesses.

In contrast, despite being in government for six years, Labor did not spend a single dollar on improving mobile coverage in regional and remote Australia. The NBN rollout is further progressed in regional Australia that it is in metropolitan areas. All premises being served by satellite are now able to order a service and nearly 70 per cent of the fixed wireless network is ready for service. Every day, thousands of regional Australians—students, farmers, families and business owners—are benefiting from these improved services. The NBN is on track to be available to half, or 5.4 million, of all Australian premises by the end of June 2017, increasing to three-quarters of premises by the end of June 2018. To date, nearly two-thirds of all premises are in design, under construction or ready for service. Seventy per cent of premises covered by the NBN today are in regional and non-metro areas.

While there is no doubt that transitioning to a new technology can be difficult, the latest Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman report clearly shows that the NBN is getting better at managing new connections and working hard to address service complaints.

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