Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the recent Strategic Review of the National Broadband Network (NBN) revealed that the:

(a) Government's broadband plan can be completed using a mix of technologies to save $32 billion, keep monthly bills lower and deliver the NBN to all Australians four years sooner than under Labor's plan; and

(b) NBN is in a fundamentally worse position than Labor ever disclosed to Parliament or the Australian public;

(2) notes with concern that the review found that:

(a) if Labor's policies are left in place, Australian households could pay up to 80 per cent more for broadband each month; and

(b) the cost of completing the NBN under Labor's plan has blown out to $73 billion; and

(3) acknowledges that the Government is delivering on its election commitment to complete the NBN sooner, cheaper to consumers and more affordably for the Australian taxpayer.

Gilmore is an exciting and wondrous place to live with contrasting scenery, contrasting lifestyles and certainly contrasting technology. One part of Gilmore, the seaside village of Kiama, has been blessed according to the previous government regarding the rollout of the NBN while other parts of Gilmore struggle to get an ADSL connection.

During the past three years, the NBN was put on a technology pedestal that was not only impossible to maintain but impossible in application. Everyone, according to the policymakers of the day, deserved to have fibre to the home technology with 100 megabits per second, and people were adamant in their demands. They, of course, did not need 100 megabits per second. They were only downloading the odd movie and their favourite music; everything else was average with emails and the occasional mini YouTube download. That need is between eight and 12 megabits per second.

In the beginning, the people of Kiama were delighted to be one of the pilot rollout areas. I cannot report that the enthusiasm continued throughout the project and new names for the NBN were developed: 'Not blah, blah Necessary' or the 'National Broadband Nightmare'. More recently this has improved. Originally, the cables were all supposed to be underground, but someone forgot to check the local geology. Kiama is built on basalt, so you can imagine how many engineer's drills were broken or had to be replaced because they were blunt. In fact, the entire project was put under pressure by unrealistic construction times and untrained technicians—typical, really, pushing a project for the big media grab but not making sure the best solutions were applied.

The Labor government's desire to rollout the infrastructure according to their political timetable was unrealistic, badly planned and absolutely reflected a lack of business acumen. It is no wonder the project blew the budget bottom line and had thousands of homes not connected according to their schedule. Apart from the cabling change, some streets in Kiama were without water for five days, there were power losses and there were homes connected but, oops, it should have been the neighbour's place. Cable was connected to the home then the owners were told there was an addition additional cost to put cable throughout the house. Driveways were dug up, medical alerts were not being connected and connection appointments were not kept, triggering paperwork—in some cases, eight copies of the same material and eight rescheduled connection times.

At the same time, there were complaints from other areas in Gilmore demanding immediate connection—if only they knew. Many residents in Kiama wished they were not a guinea pig site. There are so many residents who assisted in having the medical alert facility accelerated as part of the changeover. Thank you for your passion and persistence. Thank you also to the many others who have shown great fortitude and patience in what has been to date a very frustrating experience. They include Rod Cork, who told us that businesses had been caught up in the problems; Peter Snelling, whose patience is beyond belief; John Holdgate, with multiple correspondence copies; Ross and Joyce Brown, who had no water. But, most of all, thank you to Robert G and Michael T, regional managers for NBN Telstra. Some would say you are both just doing your job, but your efforts in defusing myriad issues have been amazing. When a government lacks business experience there are problem consequences. Putting unrealistic expectations on provider companies without listening to their concerns and their knowledge to improve the system, causes waste, inefficiency and customer frustration, and the list goes on.

Straight after the election, we carried out a strategic review. The startling summary of findings, if we had followed Labor's plan, includes: that the cost would end up being almost $73 billion—that is, $29 billion more than the public have been told and that it would not reach the final rollout destinations until 2024; an 80 per cent increase in the cost of broadband for the average family; and $6.5 billion had been spent with only three per cent of the scheduled connections completed.

The new plan is a combination of technologies. It is cost efficient, time efficient and technologically flexible to grow with advances over time. The plan includes extending the interim satellite service; $34 million has been allocated to upgrade the services for existing users, expand the service availability and establish a subsidy scheme for the cost of on-premise equipment and installation.

The fixed wireless review also showed that Labor had not fully catered for the needs of regional areas like Gilmore. In the September quarter, the summary of the reviews is due. It will describe a mix of technologies for NBN as an updated 2014 to 2017 corporate plan, including a detailed rollout schedule. It is essential for everyone to know that their village has not fallen off the map, as some of our local media imply, or to have an NBN that is somehow inferior, or to be ignored, as those on the opposite side will pretend. The government's NBN plan will be far more a rational and national approach to the development of broadband infrastructure where those areas will little or not internet at present will be seen as a priority. A faster and most cost-effective rollout is the action of an experienced and responsibility government.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not think this government could lie straight in bed. Two weeks ago, the government handed down a budget which included broken promises on education, on health—

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I draw your attention to the unparliamentary language used by the member opposition. I ask that he withdraw that.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Specifically?

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In relation to accusing the government of lying.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did not say that. I said that this government could not lie straight in bed.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is unparliamentary language.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me make it very clear, this government has broken promises.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask for your ruling on that, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was a play on words. I will let it pass.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. They have broken promises on education, on health, on pensions and on taxes. Then they come into the parliament and move this motion where they are proselytising, keeping their promises on the NBN. Quick news flash: they have broken promises on the NBN as well. In April last year, the Prime Minister said that, if elected, everyone would have access to 25 megabits per second by the end of 2016. That promise has been broken as well.

On the last sitting day in this parliament, when everyone was distracted by the closure of Holden, Malcolm Turnbull, the Minister for Communications, came into the parliament and said that the government was breaking that promise as well. It is not the only promise they have broken on the NBN. They promised nine million households would get fibre to the node. Now only about three million households will get that. There is also this ripper: in February last year, then opposition leader said Tony Abbott :

If we don't go ahead with the NBN in its current form, that's about $50 billion less that the Commonwealth will need to borrow.

That is not true either and the budget papers prove it. Last year's budget—our last budget—showed that we would allocate $30.4 billion in government equity to build the NBN. In this budget the Liberal Party shows that it will allocate $29.5 billion. It is not a $50 billion difference; it is a $1 billion difference. The real difference is what the people of Australia will get. Under Labor they would have got the real NBN, fibre to the premises, a game-changing project that would change the way we live and change the way we work. Under this government, only 25 per cent of Australia will get fibre to the premises. The rest of Australia will miss out. They will get a second-rate NBN from a third-rate government.

We have to ask ourselves why this is happening. I think it is because the Liberal Party do not understand how important the NBN is. The Prime Minister says he is the infrastructure Prime Minister of Australia but he describes the NBN as, effectively, a video entertainment system. He wants to tear down this project but, at the same time, to build a paid parental leave scheme, to give $50,000 to rich mums who do not need it. I make this point for this reason: the cost of the paid parental leave scheme over the next decade will be more than the cost of building the NBN over the next decade. Which one do you think will have a bigger impact on the Australian economy. I can tell you it is the NBN. The member for Gilmore should know better because in her electorate is the town of Kiama, one of the first places to get the NBN. The people in Kiama who are using it love it.

Ms Sudmalis interjecting—

I have. There is woman named Sharon Parker, who lives in your electorate, said this:

Downloading, uploading, fast, brilliant. Sending emails, instant. Downloading really big documents, we get it straight away.

  …   …   …

Brilliant. We don't have any dramas, none whatsoever.

By her actions, the member for Gilmore is denying the rest of her electorate the same service that Sharon Parker is getting. Towns like Nowra, Gerringong and Gerroa will all miss out on what Kiama is getting. They will get the second-rate NBN.

Do not worry; we will tell them about it. If they do not know about it already, we will tell them, come the next election in 2016. We will tell the people of Nowra, Gerringong and Gerroa that they are missing out on the real NBN because of this short-sighted government. We will remind them of the promises—on education, on health, on pensions, on taxes and on the NBN—that this Prime Minister has broken. They are missing out because they trusted this untrustworthy government.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we have just heard from the member for Blaxland is another example of the Labor Party living in La La Land. The figures that we have just heard are absolutely rubbish—

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: I do not think that the term 'La La Land' is really respectful or worthy of being used within the parliament, and I think that the member should be asked to rephrase her language and use some more parliamentary-type language, language that is in line with what one would expect from a member of parliament.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On this occasion I will allow it. Please continue.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. As I said, this is another example of the Labor Party living in La La Land. We have seen how the Labor Party has monumentally driven—

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I have a question for the member under standing order 66A.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Corangamite, do you—

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I do not allow the member to intervene.

As I say, this is another example of the Labor Party living in La La Land. We have seen how the Labor Party, the previous federal government, has driven our country into monumental debt and deficit. It has shown that it does not know how to run the economy, and despite the attempts by the member opposite to shut me down in this debate—

Ms Hall interjecting—

I will proudly say loud and clear—and it is unfortunate that she is trying to do it again—

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I have another question I would like to ask the member under 66A.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A member can only intervene on one occasion, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is right.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I return to the debate, and I remind those who are watching this and seeing the display opposite of Labor's mess. I look at page 52 of Labor's Mess 2007-2013, which is also on my website. There is no more monumental example of an infrastructure mess than the NBN. The document says:

In 2007 Labor promised a National Broadband Network costing $4.7 billion and which would be completed by 2013. In 2009 they switched to an NBN costing ten times as much.

…   …   …

After six years of Labor government, only 3% of Australians had access to the NBN and fewer than 100,000 were using it. Labor's NBN achieved only 16% of its original rollout target for June 2013 and only 7% of its target for paying customers.

What we have seen again from Labor, from the previous federal government, is an example of incompetence. This is an infrastructure project that Labor failed to deliver, and the member for Blaxland has got his figures dramatically wrong.

As we know from our strategic review, we have costed this project at $78 billion. We are proudly delivering about 26 per cent of fibre to the premises for homes right around the country. Let me just remind the people of my electorate in Corangamite that, when Labor decided to roll out the NBN, one of the big differences was that it did not prioritise those who needed the NBN the most: those in rural and regional areas. Frankly, it is a disgrace that Labor completely excluded from rollout the people in southern Geelong and in places like Highton, Belmont, Grovedale, Waurn Ponds and Marshall, where people in my electorate are absolutely desperate for internet connections. Once again we have seen of Labor's absolute failure to care for country people, to regard country people as a priority. The rollout in southern Geelong is a very good example of that.

I also remind the House that, apart from the massive cost blow-out, as we see in the booklet 'Labor's mess', not only were the targets appalling but without policy changes, as the independent review has revealed, up to 200,000 households and businesses in regional, rural and remote areas were going to miss out entirely on a connection under Labor's NBN. This has been a monumental infrastructure disaster. We are proudly fixing Labor's mess. We are proudly rolling out the NBN quickly and efficiently and delivering fast broadband right across Australia, which is what the Labor Party, unfortunately, failed to do as it did with so many other things.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion unwittingly reveals one of the few qualities of the Abbott government. I know that after their first, chaotic budget not too many people are talking up the qualities of the government. Watching them sell what has been described as a stinking carcass of a budget—high praise from their side—it is painfully obvious that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer are struggling in talking up themselves and their own qualities. Considering this, I thought I would lend them a hand, using the motion of the member for Gilmore.

You see, this motion champions one of the greatest hidden attributes of the government, which is its sense of irony. Look hard and you will find that that quality is on display in everything that the government does. That quality has been on show from their first swearing-in right through to her first budget. If members are having trouble identifying it, check out the responsibilities they have set up for their ministers. A Prime Minister who shaped a ministry with the lowest level of female representation in living memory is the minister for women. They have an industry minister who oversees the closure of industries; a health minister whose biggest job right now is to discourage the sick from seeing a doctor; a social services minister who is cutting the incomes of young employed people, making sure they have less money for things such as food and rent but making sure they have a couple of hundred dollars for marriage counselling; and an infrastructure minister who has distanced himself from any infrastructure project that does not involve building a road—he should just rebadge himself the Minister for Tar; he is helped by the member for Mayo, the Assistant Minister for Tar. But the greatest, the finest, blaring example of irony, is the Minister for Communications, who is tasked with the slow death of one of the biggest communications projects in the country, the NBN, and he is ably supported by backbenchers who run interference, creating confusion and dismay about a project that will actually benefit their own electorates.

This motion was moved by a regional member of parliament, the member for Gilmore, backed up by three regional members of parliament arguing against improving the quality of infrastructure in their own patch. What are we going to see next, a conservative government argue for lifting the taxes on the well off? No, they have done that one, too!

We have here the government turning the NBN into what has been described as a CBN—a copper broadband network. They are not doing anything inventive. All they are doing is reverting to type—the type that has dogged them since the last time they were in government, when they had 20 failed broadband plans—tinkering with copper when fibre is what will be required to get the job done and done right. Instead of 93 per cent of homes being connected with fibre the coalition will only connect 26 per cent this way. That is what these regional members are applauding today. Instead of ensuring complete coverage by satellite and wireless in those hard-to-reach areas, these members are chanting for an $80 million mobile-phone-tower program where data costs will be higher and speeds will be slower. They are presiding over a plan described by veteran analysts, such as Paul Budde, as a dog's breakfast. It is so bad that the promises they made at the election have already been dropped—for example, that of 25 megabits per second by 2016.

So what is the member for Gilmore talking about when she talks about the NBN? Her motion is not about the network itself; she focused on reviews. Since the government has come to office they have not been rolling out fibre, they have been rolling out red carpet to consultants. I have seen the minister out and about wearing a fluoro vest. I do not know why. He is not building a network; he is building a Brandisesque library of consultant reviews and reports.

If they are not rolling around in glee making snow angels out of the invoices that the consultants have sent them, they are working hard to suppress different views on the NBN. I have been surprised to see, for instance, reports that the ABC are withholding reports about the NBN because they do not want to upset their new masters, and they are failing to report on the National Broadband Network.

Have no doubt about it: people want fibre to the premises. The do not want the coalition's CBN; they want the NBN. I know this from my own area, where I have often raised the concerns of local residents in Woodcroft and Doonside. Fortunately, and to their credit, in April the government reversed a terrible decision they made in December where they dropped these suburbs from the rollout. But, while one half will get the NBN, the other half will not. There are patches of these suburbs that are bizarrely omitted.

The shadow minister for communications attended a forum I held earlier this month where residents expressed a clear view they wanted the job done properly. In words that I think signal a firm view across modern Australia, he was told: 'This is Australia, not a Third World country. There are other countries worse than us that have better broadband service. If I have a right to vote, I should have a right to better broadband.' That is the expectation of modern Australia, not what these people are delivering. (Time expired)

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Gilmore for this motion. She knows as I do that regional Australia needs better broadband sooner. Regional Australia needs to catch up to the major metropolitan centres and have access to the type of broadband service that allows businesses to grow and compete and individuals to enjoy an equivalent level of support.

Labor in government failed to prioritise regional communities in the original NBN plan, and many regional areas with no broadband service were left behind and had to watch as metropolitan areas were upgraded. Labor underestimated the number of Australians in regional and remote areas who want the NBN by a factor of two to three.

This is easily demonstrated by their bungling of the NBN interim satellite service, which provides temporary internet access for premises in metropolitan fringe, regional and remote areas with no other way of getting broadband. In December 2013 the ISS reached its capacity of 48,000 customers and registrations were closed. In July 2013 Labor told 250,000 households and businesses, many with other broadband options, that they were eligible for the ISS. Tens of thousands were left demanding the service but unable to obtain it.

Labor spent $351 million on the ISS—$7,300 per user—yet it delivers dial-up service to many users. By comparison, the coalition has made unserviced and underserviced regions a priority. The government moved in April 2014 to fix Labor's mistakes and $34 million was committed to improving the ISS to improve service quality for existing users, allow new connections and establish a subsidy scheme for the cost of on-premises equipment and installation.

The government is committed to rolling out the National Broadband Network as quickly as possible, at less cost to taxpayers and more affordably for consumers. In nine months the number of premises covered has increased 65 per cent, from 348,000 to 573,000. The rollout is proceeding using a multi-technology mix that matches the right technology to the right location and leverages existing infrastructure.

The NBN Co strategic review found that, if Labor's NBN proceeded, it would cost $72.6 billion—a mere $29 billion more than the public were told. It would lift broadband costs by up to 80 per cent and take until 2024. The government's approach will save taxpayers $32 billion, get the NBN finished four years sooner and enable nine out of ten Australians in the fixed line footprint to have access to download speeds of 50 megabits per second or more by 2019.

In my own electorate of Forrest, NBN Co has recently announced new services to be provided by fibre and fixed wireless technologies in Brunswick, Stratham and Boyanup. This will add to the 44,000 homes and businesses in Western Australia with access to the NBN. I was especially glad to see the media release from NBN Co announcing the additional services in the electorate. I would like to quote from that release:

For many homes, farms and businesses in rural and regional Western Australia the rollout of the NBN will provide access to internet speeds and bandwidth that many in the big cities take for granted.

That is how it is in rural and regional Australia.

We saw the overbuild. We heard repeatedly about the overbuild in Labor's NBN. Instead of prioritising rural and regional, they overbuilt in areas where there were sometimes two services already available. It has taken the installation of a coalition government to get that recognition, and I am very glad that we have it. NBN Co will release an updated 2014-17 corporate plan in the September quarter of 2014. This will include detailed information about the rollout schedule, and I look forward to seeing it spell out how to deliver better broadband in Forrest.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Looking at the motion that is before us, on every single point the mover has stumbled, perhaps unwittingly, into the realms of what I call Turnbullistan. It is almost as if this motion was drafted in the minister's office. It talks about the strategic review of the NBN. The minister—because this really does look like it was drafted in the minister's office—likes to claim that the strategic review tells him that Labor's plan for its NBN would cost $72.6 billion, increase prices for consumers and not be complete until 2024. On every single one of these claims made by the minister, he is wrong. He is deliberately misleading the community. I am very concerned, also, that he is unwittingly misleading the member for Gilmore.

On the issue of cost, it is absolutely false to claim that the strategic review identified that completing the NBN under Labor's plan would cost $72.6 billion, because the revised outlook in the strategic review did not represent the cost of building a fibre-to-the-premises network, which was Labor's NBN. It was a hypothetical exercise based on a series of forward projections and assumed that management of the project would not achieve any efficiencies. Furthermore, the minister continually and incorrectly refers to the three different concepts of cost used in describing the NBN, these being the sum total of all capital expenditure; the peak funding requirement, which is the sum of capital expenditure plus operating losses until the project becomes cash flow positive; and levered peak funding requirement, which assumes that only a portion of the peak funding is provided by government equity contributions, and that the portion raised by private debt funding includes costs incurred in raising the debt.

The minister's own strategic review reveals two things about the cost: firstly, that the only real difference in the cost to the Commonwealth between Labor's plan and the government's plan is less than one billion dollars in equity financing; secondly, that choosing levered peak funding inflates the result by including costs of debt. Therefore, it could be just as reasonably claimed that the strategic review showed that the fibre-to-the-premises NBN could be built for the capital expenditure included in the corporate plan.5

I would also note that this was the mob running around prior to the election saying the cost of the NBN was $90 billion. Even the hapless member for Moncrieff used that figure in the House a few weeks ago. Just to make it clear how out of date he is, on the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network on 19 April last year—a hearing of the parliament—I asked:

… I want to go back to your briefing at the start, just to be crystal clear. The NBN costs $37.4 billion. What veracity should then be given to assertions that the NBN cost could in fact be around $90 billion?

He said:

I can only repeat that we are confident of the $37.4 billion figure.

So I asked him:

Do you know how that $90 billion figure was derived?

That is the figure that those opposite were running around talking about. The answer was no.

But perhaps the most galling point in this motion regards election commitments. Before this government became expert on breaking election commitments, they were breaking promises on the NBN. We all remember the laughable press conference with the then opposition leader and the member for Wentworth and Sonny Bill Williams. During that press conference the now Prime Minister said:

Under the coalition by 2016 ... there will be minimum download speeds of 25 megabits ... we will deliver a minimum of 25 megabits ... by the end of our first term.

That promise was broken in December last year. It barely lasted a couple of months.

I want to draw the attention of the member for Gilmore to the success story6 that is Labor's NBN in her electorate. The Illawarra Mercury recently featured a story on one of the member for Gilmore's constituents, Ms Maree Shepherd, who is enjoying the benefits of Labor's high-speed fibre broadband network, which has allowed her to work from home. The story quotes Maree:

"When I studied Australian history, we studied the tyranny of distance, about the problems for Australia being so far away," Ms Shepherd said.

"The internet and the NBN in particular for me down here7 in Kiama, that tyranny of distance is gone now. The world is8 right here in my living room because I've got a good connection."

These are the lived experiences of people enjoying the transformational and enabling powers of ICT investment.

I believe the member for Gilmore should be there listening to their needs rather than putting through these extraordinarily ill-thought out motions. I would like to point out that while we talk about the regions and how concerned these people are about them, what are they doing about equivalent wholesale pricing? Gone. Selling out on equivalent wholesale pricing. We were supposed to end the disparity between metro and bush prices, and they have completely sold out the regions on each one of those. (Time expired)

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There can be few issues of more importance to the people of Hume than telecommunications. We have over 18,000 people a day travelling into Sydney and Canberra for work, and each one of them wants a connection so that they can work outside of office hours when they need to. The Hume corridor between Sydney and Canberra is the tree change capital of Australia with huge numbers of people moving out of those cities for a wonderful rural lifestyle.

I also have the electorate of small businesses. I have lots of edges and not many centres, and that means small business proliferates right across the electorate and those small businesses need telecommunications for the effectiveness of their business.

I understand rural Australia. The member for Greenway does not because she does not come from that area. We understand how disastrous Labor's policies were on the NBN for rural Australia. There is a long list of rivals for Labor's worst, most disastrous program, but the rural NBN has to be at the top of the list.

Let us touch on just one aspect of their failure to deliver for rural Australia and that is the Interim Satellite Service. The NBN Interim Satellite Service attempts to provide temporary internet access for premises in metropolitan fringe, but particularly in more remote areas where there is no other means of getting the internet. In July 2013 Labor told 250,000 households and businesses, many with other broadband options, that they were eligible for the interim satellite solution.

But in December 2013, less than six months later, the interim satellite solution reached its capacity of 48,000 customers, having promised it to 250,000—another of Labor's extravagant claims that prove to be a huge problem for the people of rural Australia. What is worse is they spent $351 million on the interim satellite solution—that is $7,300 per user—and it delivered little more than dial-up broadband speeds. What an extraordinary waste.

In my electorate of Hume this was real people with real businesses. The Dysons moved into my electorate, hoping to run an education business using broadband. They were promised they would be able to achieve 20 megabits per second or thereabouts of download speeds to run their business. They quickly found that that was impossible and had to move their business into town where they could get higher speeds.

This government moved in April 2014 to fix Labor's mistakes and $34 million was committed to improving the Interim Satellite Service and to improve broadband quality. That is just one of the problems. I could stand here and talk or 30 minutes or however long you like about the rest of them.

What is important is to talk about where we are going with all of this. We understand that better telecommunications is the key to unlocking growth in regional Australia. In March I announced the first towers in my electorate for fixed wireless services near Cowra and Young. Six new towers are under construction in Cowra and Young—in fact most of them are now up—and they will provide fast broadband access to thousands or residents as part of our reprioritisation to rural Australia. The towers are at Koorawatha, the Olympic Highway between Cowra and Koorawatha, Gooloogong, the Lachlan Valley Way between Gooloogong and Cowra, south of Canowindra and between Derbys Falls and Wyangala—all areas with huge problems with the internet.

Recently, I was at the Koorawatha show and saw one of these sparkling new towers that have been a long time coming. There is still a wait for these areas to be connected. It will take up to 12 months, but the residents can at last see hope. Around the town of Goulburn we will also be seeing a rapid rollout in the coming 12 months of fixed wireless internet towers.

So this government is moving on the problems in rural Australia. We understand the need for reprioritisation, but we also understand the need to allow the private sector to play a role. In the village of Harden the community has taken this problem into its own hands and is rolling out its own fixed wireless solution. Around Palerang, just on the edge of Canberra, Wireless4U has been rolling out fixed wireless towers for some time.

Our NBN is not seeking to push out private sector providers. In fact, we are seeking to encourage them. That is a critical part of our strategy. I commend this motion to the House.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to start my contribution to today's debate on the National Broadband Network with a quote from one of the co-founders of Australia's most successful software company, Atlassian. Yesterday, on Channel 9's Financial Review Sunday program, Atlassian's Mike Cannon-Brookes said:

The biggest problem the government has at the moment is that it doesn't understand technology broadly.

That pretty much sums it up. I was amazed that this private members' business was brought to the House, considering how viciously this government is tearing apart the National Broadband Network. The Abbott government is systematically destroying the world-class network that was going to be built under Labor and is replacing it with a hotchpotch of different networks at a slower timetable than promised and at much lower speeds.

In particular, I find it astonishing that their strategic review of the NBN is being waved around as a showcase in this debate. The Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network tabled its first report in March this year and was scathing of the strategic review and the processes that the government is undertaking in its rollout. In essence, the interim report found that the assumptions of the strategic review are flawed and unreliable, and that the government should direct NBN Co to accelerate the fibre-to-the-premises rollout, not stop it.

I would now like to concentrate on the second point made by the Senate select committee about accelerating the fibre-to-the-premises rollout, not stopping it. Labor's National Broadband Network was to deliver superfast broadband to the front door of 93 per cent of all Australians, about 70 per cent more than what will be delivered by this government.

My electorate of Newcastle was due to have 100 per cent of coverage with fibre to all premises by the end of 2016—superfast access that would connect them to the rest of the country and the world. Every home, school, hospital, health clinic and business was set to be connected. Businesses made decisions to locate themselves, based on the availability of the NBN and were making long-term plans to move operations into Newcastle. Construction on the network commenced in the suburb of Mayfield last year. Planned works and interchange upgrades were underway or completed in New Lambton and Hamilton.

Some residents in Thornton, Stockton and Beresfield were to benefit from broadband access for the first time. That is right: there are still places in Newcastle, a major regional economic hub, that have no broadband access whatsoever. My entire electorate now sits on a scrap heap of broken promises of this government, completely removed from the rollout schedule altogether. They have no idea of when they will receive the NBN or what level of service they will actually receive. Business plans are in disarray, with small and large enterprises heading back down the freeway to the Central Coast and Sydney, to access the big pipe of superfast broadband.

Last week I was surprised to hear some good broadband news for the region, with rumours that the NBN was back on and that there would be a fibre-rollout announcement. I thought maybe they might restart the work at Mayfield and that maybe the people of Thornton or Stockton were going to get broadband for the very first time. I was, however, left disappointed with the detail when the announcement came out. Do not get me wrong: I am happy for the residents who are going to get the NBN close to Newcastle, but I am obviously disappointed to read that it was not coming to my constituents or businesses in my electorate but was to be rolled out in East Maitland just outside my electorate in the Liberal held seat of Paterson.

One of the listed fundamentals of NBN Co's rollout is the prioritisation of construction of the NBN in communities in regional and rural Australia, with limited or no current access to broadband. Based on this fundamental and the announcement of the construction commencing in East Maitland, I naturally assumed that they were in the same boat as Thornton, about five kilometres away, with no broadband access at all. Research, however, shows that this was not the case. Using the Department of Communications MyBroadband checker, I got a quick insight into broadband availability and quality in East Maitland and nearby Thornton. According to the checker, the residents of East Maitland already have high levels of access to ADSL. Unfortunately, when I checked for Thornton it was still very much the case. The ratings, quite aptly given the situation there, came up as D, E, D, the lowest rankings possible on all measures.

No more broken promises from this government, please, no more wrong priorities, no more out-of-date antiquated technologies, no more copper—we want a modern Australia. We deserve much more. (Time expired)

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.