Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities) Share this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government's 2018-19 budget contains some very impressive outcomes for the Communications and the Arts portfolio for Australian families and for building a stronger and more prosperous Australia while continuing to preserve our cultural heritage. Important new initiatives will be introduced to keep Australians safe online by countering cyberbullying and image based abuse, to attract international investment to sustain Australian jobs in the film production and related industries, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook's first pacific voyage, to ensure important capital works upgrades occur at the National Gallery of Australia, and to reinstate funding to SBS that was previously removed in anticipation of legislative changes that would have provided advertising flexibility had they be enacted.

The government will provide the portfolio with $10.1 billion to deliver its priorities through the 2018-19 appropriation bills, including prior-year appropriations carried forward for the NBN rollout. In 2018-19, this funding will enable a loan drawdown of $7.6 billion towards the completion of National Broadband Network. Currently, more than 90 per cent of all homes and businesses outside major urban areas can either order NBN based services or have new network construction underway. Overall, more than 6.6 million homes and businesses across Australia can connect to the NBN and there are close to four million active services. This compares to just 51,000 connections in the six years of the previous, Labor government. What a hopeless track record, and we are fixing their mess.

In addition, this government will provide $1.3 billion to the national broadcasters, the ABC and SBS. The Department of Communications and the Arts and the Australian Communications and Media Authority will receive $634.7 million to deliver their outcomes and a further $495 million will support the cultural and collecting entities. The government acknowledges community concerns regarding online harms, such as cyberbullying and image based abuse, and seeks to ensure that all Australians can confidently take advantage of the internet. The government will provide an additional $14.2 million over four years to support the Office of the eSafety Commissioner in delivering important online safety initiatives. These include delivery of the core function to enforce a civil penalty regime targeting perpetrators and content hosts who share intimate images without consent. I'll conclude my opening remarks there. There will be much more to say about the extraordinarily good work being done across this portfolio.

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