Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the National Broadband Network (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024, as introduced by the fabulous Minister for Communications. This bill is all about safeguarding the NBN and ensuring its future and ongoing benefits for all Australians. The Albanese Labor government committed to delivering accessible internet for all Australians, and this bill supports that.

I want to start by saying that the NBN is a fantastic Labor initiative. It was conceived under former prime minister Kevin Rudd. It came about because Labor fundamentally believed that every Australian—not just those who live in the cities or large regional centres but every Australian—should have high-speed, high-quality access to internet services.

The NBN helps Australians in so many ways—in education, in health, in recreation and, very importantly, in business. The Menzies party of small business is now, let's be honest, the party of small minds. Labor understands how the NBN expands education, health, recreation and business, but those opposite do not. Labor led the charge, championing the use of modern fibre-optic technology for better broadband connections. Think of all the benefits that come, when it comes to education, health, recreation and business, because of the modern internet.

Those opposite obviously took a different view. They thought that the existing copper networks—the stuff that was rolled out when horses and buggies were on our roads—that were already unsuitable and unreliable for Australia's needs, would be perfect for the NBN.

It is a tale of two Tonys. I've mentioned one: a farmer called Tony Windsor—an Independent, and a former National Party MP at the state and federal level, who saw the benefits that would come to the bush in his sector, and that's one of the reasons that he chose, for the 43rd Parliament, the Gillard government. That Tony saw the future. He understood farming methods. When you go to a farm now, they can geolocate individual plants when it comes to dealing with water. And, for a nation that has water challenges, we need to do all that we can to support our farmers.

The other Tony—who eventually became Prime Minister—had a different approach. He chose Malcolm Turnbull to destroy the NBN. I'm sure he sent a fax off to Malcolm's electorate office, down in Double Bay or wherever it was, saying, 'I want you to destroy the NBN'! The irony is: Malcolm Turnbull was the only dinosaur in that dinosaur pact that actually understood the NBN. He'd made money out of investing in it. He understood it. But Tony Abbott chose him to destroy the NBN—he sent the only bloke who understood it to destroy it. And Turnbull, to his everlasting shame, accepted that Faustian deal with Tony Abbott.

Politics is a cruel business, and it is very hard to maintain one's dignity and sense of noble purpose in this building on occasions. We have 'one wild and precious life', and that was the choice that Malcolm Turnbull accepted. 'You're young until you're not,' as Regina Spektor said, and we destroy that life when we devote our time to not being true to ourselves.

To Malcolm Turnbull's shame, he took on that job for Tony Abbott. Malcolm Turnbull was the bloke who actually said that Australians should just move if they want faster broadband—you know, move to Double Bay if you're having trouble! That sort of hardwired privilege would get the starving to dine out to solve their hunger problems. So naive!

So the LNP fired up their Commodore 64 and decided that Australians were okay with copper and that we had enough bandwidth. In the late noughties they sent out their fax to their electorate offices confirming that they would sabotage the NBN. Fast forward a few years: we had a $30 billion blowout, and, finally, those opposite admitted that they'd got it wrong and they adopted Labor's original fibre-optic policy—the policy advanced by Tony Windsor, a man who had a national vision, who understood not just the Nationals' vision but who had a national vision of how this would benefit Australia.

And now, not having access to affordable high-speed internet is unthinkable. Today, the NBN reaches to over 12.4 million premises across Australia. More than 8.6 million homes and businesses across Australia are connected to the NBN, a network that is worth about $51 billion.

Australians in the cities, in the towns and in the bush rely on the NBN for their businesses, for their remote working, for health care, for education, for time spent for their families, for entertainment—for looking at cat videos, or even dog videos! The NBN is an integral part of our lives. It's not a luxury. Connectivity is a necessity, and it's one that we need to be able to rely on. As the Minister for Communications said, it remains vital that the ongoing mission and focus of the NBN, to deliver affordable, accessible, high-speed broadband to all Australians, be guided by the public interest rather than the commercial interest of a privileged few.

Those opposite have an opportunity to adopt another Labor policy. They have the opportunity to do right by all Australians by supporting this bill to keep the NBN in public hands. Sadly, we know that those opposite are all set to sell off the NBN, just like they did with Telstra. It seems that it doesn't matter if it's at a local, state or federal level, the Liberal and National parties just want to cut jobs and funding and then sell off public assets. You'd hope that MPs with electorate offices near the bush would be the NBN's Praetorian Guard, but no. The modern-day Nationals are weak; the tail no longer ever wakes the dog. 'Lapdog' is their new canine nomenclature. They'll sell off the bush for 30 pieces of silver and an extra minister's spot down the track somewhere near the trough. This is a common theme from those opposite about public ownership. They'll spend significant amounts of public money fattening up a public asset only to sell it off for the benefit of a privileged few, leaving hard-working Australians to suffer with the higher prices and poorer, more unreliable services.

We don't believe in that on this side of the House. We believe that public assets like the NBN should benefit all Australians. That's why we've introduced this bill today. This bill amends the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011. We've committed to keeping the NBN publicly owned, and this bill incorporates changes to part 3. It clarifies the wording regarding public ownership specifically. It makes it clear that the preservation of the NBN is an explicit requirement. It also removes the provisions which enable an NBN Co sale scheme. We made this clear in the statement of expectations to the NBN Co back in 2022, and this bill makes the commitment part of legislative framework.

These measures are necessary and they're responsible. They will ensure that regulatory oversight of wholesale pricing is ongoing. This means that access to broadband will remain affordable for Australians. The reforms also mean that required upgrade of the network will be ongoing. It's all part of our strategy to deliver a more connected Australia. This includes more fibre in the fixed line network and, crucially, it has a national security impact. The NBN is critical national infrastructure, and it's a key element of any planning and operations in regard to cyber security and national security imperatives. This includes transitioning to next-generation satellites. Strong government oversight is key when you're talking about a system that incorporates national security because—let's be honest—if this asset were to be sold, it would be bought by foreign capital, and national security could then become more problematic. Those opposite might be happy to privatise the NBN and let ownership fall into foreign hands, but the Albanese Labor government is not.

We need to take these simple steps to protect the NBN not only from potential external threats that would open up with foreign ownership but also from that other enemy, the opposition. After all, they have form. Privatising Telstra was a disaster for many Australians, particularly for those in the regions. Under former prime minister John Howard, they made big promises on telecommunications prices and services and then sold up. The opposition tried to set up the NBN for sale before they said that the NBN was finalised and built, back in 2020. It was almost like putting a finished product on the self with a big 'for sale' sign pointed only at foreign companies. The Liberal and National parties also supported increasing wholesale prices to bolster income streams, making the product shiny for prospective buyers. The plan was to increase the cost by CPI plus three per cent. Thankfully for consumers, Labor and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission pushed back at this dastardly plan.

The Albanese Labor government will never leave regional Australians behind. There is a reason that our Prime Minister knows his Yeppen from his Yeppoon. He knows the bush and he loves the bush. We have invested $2.4 billion to expand full fibre NBN access to an additional 1.5 million premises by 2025, and 660,000 of them are in rural and regional locations. This project is proceeding on time and on budget. From September next year, download speeds will be boosted by up to five times the current speed at no additional wholesale cost, and we're installing more fibre in the fixed line network to ensure that future needs are catered for. We've also listened closely to Australians and know that those living in rural and remote Australia want to be able to rely on the NBN.

A fast and reliable NBN also has a substantial impact on the Australian economy, fuelling economic growth. As the Minister for Finance said about a faster, high-quality network, it will deliver a $400 million uplift in GDP by 2030. Productivity uplifts, carbon emissions avoided by people working from home, lives saved, global markets reached—so much to offer. The minister has said that economic analysis commissioned by NBN Co shows that, for every one megabit per second increase in average broadband speed, Australia's productivity driven GDP increased on average by 0.4 per cent.

Like the great and proud institutions that Labor has brought this country, such as Medicare, the NDIS and well-funded schools, the NBN must stay in public hands for the good of every Australian. I commend this bill to the House.

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