Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about low-hanging fruit. In my electorate we know something about low-hanging fruit; the electorate is, of course, a very big horticultural area. But I want to talk about productivity and low-hanging fruit. One of the low-hanging fruits for productivity in my electorate is mobile phone coverage.

Our electorate produces $5.3 billion worth of economic activity for the Australian economy. I think people are surprised when they hear just how influential my electorate is. But recently we put out to our electorate the need for mobile phone coverage, and we had 1,400 inquiries to our office. People want to be able to make a phone call. What we have seen is that, as the uptake of smart technologies and smart phones increases, the actual reach of a mobile phone tower is declining because the data use is increasing. I believe that, if we are going to drive our economy—which we must given the clouds that are on the economic horizon—we need to invest in the low-hanging fruit, and the low-hanging fruit is being able to make a phone call. It is being able to make sure our agricultural businesses in regional areas are First World and competitive. I think that, if we address the low-hanging fruit, the whole country will benefit as a result.