Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

() (): On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled The rollout of the National Broadband Network 1st report of the 45th Parliament

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—In making comment today about this report can I acknowledge the strong contribution by the previous chair, the member for Robertson.

The member for Robertson was the chair of this committee from September last year until June this year—and so led much of this committee's work during its 12 months of operation.

This included writing to individuals and organisations, inviting and continuing to accept submissions right up until August.

In this way the information the committee received was continually updated throughout the year.

As noted in the report, ours was very much a 'live' inquiry about the rollout of the NBN as it was happening around us.

The committee received 191 submissions from a range of individuals and organisations and staged 15 public hearings, taking evidence from every state and territory including regional areas.

Much of the committee's focus was on the experience of consumers in migrating their telecommunications services to the NBN, as well as the quality and reliability of this service once connected.

As was noted when the report was first formally presented to the Speaker and President on 29 September, the bulk of the report contains the views and recommendations of the other side of this chamber.

And just on comments made in relation to the date when the report was presented to the parliament, on the eve of a long weekend and before major football finals, several media outlets decided this must be the work of the government seeking to somehow hide the findings.

May I make the point that it was the Labor members of this committee who delayed the original recommendations from myself as chair.

Not only did we end up with a highly politicised overview of the committee's work, we ended up with a further 18 separate recommendations.

One thing I believe still resonates, despite Labor's efforts, is the common-sense decision by this government to deliver the NBN through a multitechnology mix.

Yet what was the very first recommendation adopted by the Labor Party and the crossbench? Let's toss out all the work the NBN has undertaken. Let's go back to Labor's plan A, developing the entire rest of the network using fibre-to-the-premises or, at a minimum, fibre-to-the curb technology.

Labor had their plan A when they were in government, and it flopped!

There were numerous cost overruns, delays in meeting their own rollout targets and the interim satellite services they introduced was a shambles.

So what do Labor members want? To do it all again—to take another six to eight years longer to complete the build of the NBN, slug taxpayers an additional $29 million and push up people's internet bills by at least $40 a month!

The committee did recognise that the government is committed to completing the network and ensuring that all Australians have access to very fast broadband as soon as possible at affordable prices and at least cost to taxpayers.

As both the chair of this committee and a local member of parliament for a regional area, I recognise that not everyone is experiencing a smooth transition to the NBN.

NBN's own surveying indicates that 85 per cent of end users are finding that the service is meeting or exceeding their expectations.

In terms of complaints, when you have a committee inviting submissions from people who are experiencing challenges, we're obviously going to hear mainly from those who are unhappy or where the service is not what they had expected.

Sometimes it is an unforeseen technical issue; sometimes it is equipment provided by the retail provider—or one of a hundred other possibilities.

The clear message the committee received was that there needs to be a better way to fix those problems more quickly when they arise—and to keep the customer informed.

NBN knows this and is already taking steps to make it happen.

It's also why recommendations from our side of the House sought to strengthen the customer experience.

The non-government members of the committee have come up with exhaustive commentary—most of it political argument rather than conclusions drawn from evidence taken by witnesses in submissions and public hearings.

Their recommendations include new audits, new regulations, new reference groups, new regulations and—as usual from Labor—a lot more taxpayers' dollars!

Government members of the committee believe the smarter approach is to boost the powers of our existing agencies and authorities to work more closely with the NBN to deliver the broadband that Australia has come to expect, and will receive, from this government.

Measures are already in place to call NBN and the RSPs to account if they don't deliver the speeds consumers have signed up for.

We want to put the customer experience front and centre and focus on measures that need to be in place to further resolve their issues when they arrive.

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