Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to speak about the coalition's plans to deliver fast and affordable broadband to all Australians. It is important to remember that both major parties have the same goal, to deliver fast broadband on an equitable basis. However, there is a fundamental difference in our approach which speaks volumes about the way the coalition and the Labor Party manage public funds. The coalition have a plan to get fast broadband to all Australians much, much sooner than later and at much less cost to taxpayers. The coalition' s broadband rollout requires funding of $29.5 billion compared to Labor's plan which is tipped to cost $94 billion.

Despite throwing an astonishing sum of money at the National Broadband Network the Labor Party cannot even undertake a timely rollout of the scheme. Labor's NBN will likely take at least until 2025 to complete. The coalition' s NBN will be completed by 2019. Labor's NBN will be lucky to meet 15 per cent of its targets by June 30. In fact, it has only connected about 10,000 people nationally through its main brownfields fibre rollout.

In the Canning electorate Mandurah residents have seen the slow rollout of the NBN on local streets. Initially the rollout in Mandurah was delayed around six months as the government could not get construction contracts into place effectively. NBN work in Mandurah commenced in December 2011. NBN Co clearly stated in its press release dated 6 September 2011 that the estimated time from the start of the work to the activation of first services would be around 12 months. Well, December 2012 came and no one is connected in Mandurah because the work is not finished. NBN Co now claim in April it is ready for service update and Mandurah consumers will be connected from December 2013, two years from the commencement of the work and 18 months behind schedule in total.

Because Labor's NBN rollout is failing to meet any targets, it has been unwilling to engage in any factual debate and has instead resorted to misrepresentation, distortion and outright falsehoods when speaking of the coalition's plan. One misleading claim is that the coalition's broadband policy will cost $5,000 to connect. This is false. Whether it is Labor's NBN or the coalition's NBN, customers will still have to pay a monthly fee to access live internet connection. The difference here is the fee consumers have to pay. Estimated retail price in 2021 for the coalition's NBN will be $66 per month. Labor's NBN cost will be $90 per month. Another false claim being made is that Australia must go all fibre because everybody else is doing it. On the contrary, data compiled by Point Topic in the broadband forum shows FTP accounts for only three per cent of the 644 million broadband subscriptions in the world. I know how desperately my constituents want fast broadband. I recognise that and the coalition's broadband plan requires NBN Co to build in readiness for the future upgrades to take— (Time expired)