Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was last year during the election campaign that the Prime Minister and Labor said:

Only a Rudd Labor Government can guarantee regional Australia access to a world-class fibre-to-the-node broadband network.

It was trumpeted all over Australia, but what have we seen? Labor also promised they would select the successful bidder by June. June has passed already and it has not been selected. Going by what Labor said, the construction of the network should have already started. After a year in government—12 months out of a three-year term—the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has made no progress at all. The national broadband network has become a farce. Even Australia’s main telecommunications company, Telstra—which I have great respect for because they provide a great service in my electorate, particularly through Telstra Country Wide—are showing a lack of interest. I think that is a reflection on the minister himself.

What is the minister doing about the Framework for the future report, the Glasson report, which was commissioned by the former Liberal-National government—the report by the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee? Aside from tabling the report in October, we have not heard a peep out of the minister, yet he is going to respond to that report—or so we hear. The minister has, by law, till March to respond, but if his promise is anything like the promise of the Rudd government to roll out broadband fibre to the node and start building now then I say to the people out there in rural and remote Australia: please do not hold your breath waiting for that response from the minister, because I think it is going to be like everything else that this government and this minister have done in relation to the rollout of the broadband network.

The Liberal-Nationals have long understood the importance of providing parity of service and access for rural, remote and regional Australians with our capital city cousins. We have always understood the need to ensure that there is parity of service and parity of price and that that price is affordable. That is why we established the Communications Fund and the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee. In my submission to the Glasson review, I called for the rollout of optic fibre across Australia. Optic fibre has the capability to provide high-speed broadband and improved mobile phone coverage, particularly with the current abilities of Next G and 3G mobile networks. The laying of this skeleton frame by the Australian government would allow participating telecommunications companies and service providers access to this fibre, and that, of course, in turn would create competition in our rural and regional areas. Optic fibre is also a very important technology. It has a long technological life. You measure its capacity in gigabits, not megabits, and I believe it will be a capable technology a long way into the future. It should be possible to use optic fibre to replace some of the microwave links we have in my electorate. Microwave links have served rural and remote Australia adequately in the past, but they are going to be very limited in their capacity to deliver high-speed broadband to some remote communities.

There is adequate federal funding for the construction of additional mobile phone tower sites, particularly in areas where the market has failed. That could come from the telecommunications fund, and the earnings from that fund would provide that if the minister were prepared to deliver on the Glasson recommendations. The other thing about providing additional mobile sites is that it would improve service particularly in those rural and remote sites where tourists travel today. It is a very important initiative, and if they were wholesale towers any provider would be able to access them.

What we have seen is a confused minister. In his press release of 15 October, he said:

… the Government understands the importance of telecommunications for regional, rural and remote Australians and has made up to $400 million available for developing targeted initiatives—

when he responds to the Glasson report. The fact of the matter is that the coalition made the $400 million available. The $2 billion fund is the one that he has abolished and that we established. (Time expired)