Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Communications. Will the minister update the House on the NBN's wireless services in Western Australia, particularly in my electorate of Canning, where we had been unable to receive an NBN response until there was a change of government?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I well remember the broadband forums in his electorate and how concerned his constituents were about the availability of wireless services. We have seen some very interesting examples of Conrovianism in the rollout of the NBN. We have seen the claim where thousands of premises have been passed with fibre, but where no connection could be made.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The minister should be asked to be directly relevant. This is a point of order under 104(a).

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. The member will resume his seat

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Conrovianism is absolutely at the centre of this multibillion dollar bungle—that is the heart and soul of the problem. I have mentioned the way in which the fixed rollout had been misleading. I have mentioned about the satellite—how a quarter of a million people were told that they were eligible for the satellite, where slots were purchased to cater for only 48,000 and now they can only get dial-up. But with the NBN's fixed wireless rollout in Western Australia, Conrovianism entered into a new surreal stage, hitherto unrecognised for its immenseness, its bizarre nature. Think about this: there are 51 fixed wireless locations on the NBN plan around Perth—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton is warned!

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

including in the honourable member's electorate—covering Kelmscott, Carinyah, Armadale, Byford and Serpentine—for which the NBN had no spectrum whatsoever. Those towers, if built, could not transmit anything. What could they be used for? Were they perches for carrier pigeons to use? Seriously, with the latest developments in Conrovian science, was there to be found a new part of the electromagnetic spectrum, perhaps consisting of the magnetic personality of the former minister? Could charisma and charm make up the difference? Was that enough to deliver a service? There are 16,000 premises on the outskirts of Perth—to the north, the east and the south—where 51 wireless base stations were planned, with no capacity whatsoever to send or receive. The NBN Co set out to the Australian people a wireless plan for which, for at least a quarter of the footprint, we believe, they had no capacity at all to deliver. This is Conrovianism at its most surreal.