Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications. Will the minister update the House on what the government is doing to accelerate the roll-out of the NBN? What does this mean for people living in my electorate of Longman?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question and note his very keen interest in broadband and in ensuring that his constituents get very fast broadband sooner, cheaper and more affordably. I can announce today that the NBN Co. has finalised commercial negotiations with Telstra for a considerably expanded program to plan, design and construct fibre-to-the-node high-speed broadband which will connect about 200,000 homes and businesses. This is an adrenaline shot for the NBN, and it will show the way to accelerating the rollout that had completely stalled under Labor.

The member for Blaxland is rarely seen in this chamber. As I said yesterday, he has only asked me one question, and it was about a boat. But he had this to say in an interview with a journalist from ZDNet: 'My main criticism of the NBN project is we haven't rolled it out fast enough. We did it too slow in government.' Gee, you are game enough to take on Senator Conroy, but you are not game enough to ask me a question. He then said, 'This government is still rolling it out too slow.' What we have done with the NBN is we have tripled the number of premises that are connected to the fibre network.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

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

The member for Grayndler will desist!

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

The number of premises that have been passed with fibre has doubled since September 2013. This fibre-to-the-node rollout, may I add, is not being determined on any sort of electoral geography, as it was under the Labor Party. Twenty-eight per cent of the premises that will get this very fast broadband in the first part of the fibre-to-the-node rollout are underserved premises. That is nearly twice the national average. So we are, as I said, prioritising underserved premises.

This fibre-to-the-node rollout, this thousand-node rollout with Telstra, will grow and develop into the full large-scale rollout across the network. It includes the electorates of Shortland, Charlton, Dobell, Newcastle, Hinkler, Robertson, Wide Bay, Dickson and, of course, Longman. So honourable members can see that this covers electorates from both sides of the House and it is focused both on engineering practicality and, above all, on need. What we are showing with the restart of the NBN Co is that we are getting on with business. We are fixing this project and we are getting the job done.