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

I move:

That this House acknowledges that:

(1) small and medium businesses are the engine room of the Australian economy and employment;

(2) all Australians, including small business people, should have access to fast, affordable and reliable broadband;

(3) regional small businesses often encounter greater difficulty accessing broadband and often receive a lower standard of broadband service; and

(4) the Government has a plan to prioritise getting areas of most need connected to fast reliable broadband sooner, especially in regional areas.

Small business is the heart and soul of the Australian economy. Of the over two million actively trading businesses in Australia, almost 96 per cent are small businesses and 3.8 per cent are medium businesses. Small and medium business combined employ 70 per cent of the nation's private sector workers or 59 per cent of all Australian workers. Small business alone—those with less than 20 employees—account for nearly 50 per cent of all of Australia's workers in the private sector. This is why small business is so important to the coalition government, and why the government has moved to make life easier for small business.

Regional Australia needs better broadband sooner. It waited years under Labor. 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 access. Labor in government failed to prioritise regional communities in the original NBN plan. There were appalling gaps in Labor's rollout plans.

Many regional areas with no broadband service were left behind for six years, or left out altogether. By September 2013 Labor had invested a staggering $6.5 billion in NBN Co, yet the NBN reached only three per cent of Australian homes and businesses and only one per cent actually received services. Labor underestimated by a factor of 2 to 3 the number of Australians in regional and remote areas who want the NBN. This is easily demonstrated by their bungling of the NBN Interim Satellite Service, which provides temporary internet access for premises in metropolitan fringes and regional and remote areas that have no other way of getting broadband.

In July 2013 Labor told 250,000 households and businesses, many with no other option, that they were eligible for the ISS. Five months later, in December 2013, the ISS reached its capacity of just 48,000 customers, and registrations were closed. Tens of thousands were left demanding services but were unable to get them. Labor spent $351 million on the ISS—$7,300 per user—yet it delivered a dial-up service to many users.

By comparison the coalition government has made un-serviced and under-serviced regions a priority. The government moved in April 2014 to fix Labor's mistakes—$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 challenges of Australia's geography and population density mean that outside of city centres, NBN Co has planned a combination of fixed line, fixed wireless and satellite technologies to deliver fast broadband for all Australians. NBN Co's satellite program is now based around both the interim satellite service and a long-term satellite service. The Interim Satellite Service currently in place involves NBN Co leasing capacity from IPSTAR and Optus Satellite.

In the meantime, NBN Co is developing its Long-Term Satellite Service by building two identical satellites to provide high-speed broadband services. The first of two Ka-band satellites that NBN Co will use for this upgraded service is expected to be in operation before mid-2016, lifting broadband quality for users in remote locations. Around $2 billion has been committed for designing, building and launching the satellites and for other equipment and services needed for the LTSS. The LTSS is designed to bring a step change in the experience of broadband users in regional and remote Australia, where so many small to medium businesses are, with peak download speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of five Mbps. These speeds exceed those typically available to ADSL2+ users in metropolitan Australia today. The LTSS will cover the entire Australian mainland and islands, through 101 dedicated 'spot beams'. Each satellite beam will have a different capacity in terms of maximum bandwidth, split across all end-users in the beam. The highest-capacity beam will serve up to 15,000 premises, while the 20 lowest capacity beams will average 700 premises each.

The coalition is committed to rolling out the National Broadband Network as quickly as possible, at less cost to taxpayers and more affordably for consumers. In just over one year it now reaches more than double the number of users than previously. In nine months the number of premises covered 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. It is also worth noting that the 18-month rollout plan shows our commitment to rural and regional Australia, where so many small to medium businesses are, with almost one million premises being covered outside of major urban areas. Of the areas receiving upgrades to their fixed-line network, more than 800,000 are outside of major urban areas, which is almost half of the total rollout in the fixed line footprint. An additional 128,000 premises in rural and regional areas will be upgraded with access to fixed wireless broadband. And under the coalition government since the election the reach of the fixed wireless network has gone from just 39,000 premises to more than 173,000 premises today.

The NBN Co strategic review found that if Labor's NBN proceeded it would cost $72.6 billion—$29 billion more than the public were told—and would lift broadband costs by up to 80 per cent and take until 2024 to deliver. The coalition'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 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 my 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.

In small rural and regional community like those in my electorate, and yours, Madam Deputy Speaker, we know that there are emerging numbers of small enterprises, even micro-enterprises, that are looking for the level of support that enables them to access the NBN in the way they need to in order to run their businesses. One of the most frequent responses I got from business during the past six to seven years concerned their having access to the appropriate level of bandwidth to be able to conduct their businesses. The fact that we have upgraded and given more businesses access in the short time we have been in government is a credit to the Minister for Communications. As we know, small business is the heart and soul of so many small regional communities. They are the people who support every community service organisation, every sporting club, every and emergency services organisation. Not only do they rely on them for donations and in-kind support, but often it is the workers in small business we rely on to help out in emergency services. We have seen this very clearly right throughout the south-west, particularly with the severe fires we have had throughout Western Australia.

Regional small businesses often encounter much more difficulty, and have, and I am very pleased that we have taken a proactive approach in prioritising under-serviced and un-serviced areas. This is the total approach we have taken to NBN. With what has been rolling out in my electorate I can see that it will not just be small premises; it will be businesses, the small businesses right throughout the electorate, who will over time have access to better broadband sooner. That has always been our intention.

So many small businesses that supply a range of different services are looking for the speeds that are necessary simply to do their businesses. Even those who are tradespeople are active in this space. In different pockets of my electorate they find it particularly difficult to access the various services. The other side of this is our plan to prioritise areas to get fast broadband sooner. The regional areas are the thrust of what we are about. (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

Last Tuesday night I was under in Thornton, in the Hunter, at St Michael's Church Hall. There were more than 100 people there packed in like sardines. It takes a lot nowadays to get more than 100 people at a town hall meeting, particularly during the week. People are busy and they have lots of things to do. Last Tuesday night there were a lot of people who wanted to be at that church hall to talk about the NBN. There were a lot of angry people, a lot of frustrated people, and they were there because they cannot get the sort of internet speeds they want. Most cannot even get ADSL. This is the third time I have visited Thornton in the past 12 months. Last time I was there, late last year, I heard the story of a nurse who has to climb onto her roof with a toggle just to download her roster. I heard lots of stories just like this last Tuesday night. One woman was very angry because her teenage daughter needs to study at night—she is doing a course as well—and because they cannot get the internet speeds they want she has to stay at work till all hours of the night in Newcastle, sometimes getting home at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock at night, just so both of them can study.

Another man I met was a man called Paul. He runs an accountancy business, employing seven people, 71 kilometres down the F3 in Toukley, but he lives in Thornton. He told the public meeting he would like to be able to set that business up in Thornton, but he cannot do that because he cannot get the broadband that he needs to run his business there. Another bloke, whose name I do not know, walked past when we were standing out the front before the meeting began. He said, 'What's this all about?' He did not know anything about the meeting and was not coming along to the meeting. I told him what it was about and he told a very similar story. He said that he had just moved his business from Thornton to Beresfield for the same reason: he cannot get the sort of internet services that he needs. He runs a mining services company.

The motion that we are talking about is about small business, the importance of small business and the importance for small business of broadband services, and they are just two great examples of businesses that need broadband and are not able to get those services in a town like Thornton in the Hunter. As a result of that, people move out or people move their businesses from Thornton to somewhere else.

To give you an idea of just how bad the broadband access is in Thornton, last year, Sharon Claydon, the member for Newcastle, sent out a survey to local residents. She got 177 surveys back, and of those 177 surveys, 74 per cent said they could not even get ADSL. If you look at the government's MyBroadband website you will see that it paints an even bleaker picture. The website ranks broadband quality and availability from A to E. If you put in addresses in Thornton you find that in Thornton it is E for both quality and availability. Here is the rub: before the election, Thornton was on the NBN rollout plan and was scheduled to be getting fibre to the home right now, to be rolled out over 2014, 2015 and 2016. Immediately after the election, Thornton was taken off the rollout map and it is still not on it. In December last year, the government released a new rollout plan for the next 18 months and Thornton is not on it. The motion that we are debating right now says:

… the government has a plan to prioritise getting areas of most need connected fast to reliable broadband sooner, especially in regional areas.

That is exactly what the coalition promised before the last election. In April 2013, the coalition's policy said:

Suburbs, regions, towns and business districts with the poorest services and greatest need for upgrades will receive first priority.

A couple of months later, in November 2013, at The NBN: Rebooted, Minister Turnbull, then the shadow minister, said:

In closing, let me remind you that up to two million households and businesses across Australia cannot get basic fixed-line broadband at present. Addressing these underserviced areas first is a key objective of our NBN policy.

So there is the promise and the commitment, but as you see in Thornton this is not happening; if it was happening Thornton would be getting the NBN right now. Instead, what Sharon and I saw on Tuesday night was more than a hundred very angry and very frustrated people. In two weeks time, the government has a chance to fix this. In two weeks time, the 18 month rollout plan is due to be updated. It is a chance for the government to fix this and finally to put Thornton on the rollout map. I urge the government and the minister to do this not just for Thornton but for all the places across the country with terrible access to broadband, all the places that the government promised would get the NBN first.

When Whitlam died last year, I asked my parents what the one thing was that they most remembered him for. It was not Medibank, universal access to healthcare services or the changes to universities; it was sewerage that they remembered him for. I grew up in an area in Western Sydney where it changed people's lives. People may think their response surprising, but if you ever had to go out into the backyard to go to the toilet in the middle of the night in winter, you would know how important having a flushable toilet in the house is.

When Whitlam started talking about this in the sixties, he was sneered at. People thought that it was not the role of the federal government to provide this sort of essential infrastructure. It is not sneered at anymore. Twenty years ago, when Paul Keating launched Networking Australia's future, he said:

… national information infrastructure will be no less a general right than access to water … or electricity.

Just like Whitlam 20 years before him, there were people who were sneering at what he was saying back then in 1995. But history has proven Keating right. Just like clean water out of the tap, power at the flick of a switch or a flushable toilet inside the house, people expect fast and reliable broadband at the click of a button. When they cannot get it, as in Thornton where 74 per cent of people cannot get access to ADSL, they are justifiably very angry.

The government needs to think hard about this. One of the reasons that people are so upset with this government is broken promises. People can rattle off that favoured famous quote from Tony Abbott the night before the election:

… no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions … and no cuts to the ABC.

But it is not just health, education or the ABC; it is the NBN as well. I gave one example of a broken promise, the promise to prioritise the worst places first. But it is not the only broken promise on the NBN. The government promised that everyone would have access to 25 megabits per second by 2016. That promise has been broken. Tony Abbott published an open letter to the Australian people on election night saying that the NBN would be built within three years. That is not going to happen either. We were told the NBN would cost only $29.5 billion. Now that promise has been broken. We were promised that Infrastructure Australia would be the organisation that would do the cost-benefit analysis. That promise has been broken. We were told there would be no new taxes. That promise has been broken.

I am not talking about the petrol tax or the now departed GP tax. I am talking about the NBN tax. As of two weeks ago, if you build a new home then you will have to pay $600 to NBN Co to get the NBN connected to your new home in a greenfields site. As at 1 July, that will go up to $900. Last week, the Minister for Communications made a very interesting speech at The Brisbane Club, where he said the problem with the budget was the sales job and that what they needed to do was explain the budget properly and do what he has done with the NBN. But if anyone thinks this is right, then I would argue they are deluding themselves. The problem with the budget was not the sales job; it was the substance. It is littered with broken promises and it is fundamentally unfair.

It is exactly the same with the NBN—a series of broken promises and also fundamentally unfair. Let me give you an example of what happened the day the Brisbane Club speech. At 10 pm last Thursday night, the government very quietly put on the NBN website a new policy called Technology Choice. There was no press release and no press conference. It was just quietly put on the website. Under this policy, if you live in a fibre-to-the-node area you can get fibre, but it will cost you anywhere 'from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.' On top of that, there is a $600 cost just to get a quote. In other words, if you are in a fibre-to-the-node area you can get it, but you will potentially have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for it. In other words, fibre for the rich and copper for the rest. This is another example of how the NBN—just like the budget we have been debating—is fundamentally unfair.

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

It is somewhat galling to have to listen to the member for Blaxland tell us about failures on broadband rollout when, in fact, the greatest failure on the NBN rollout came from those opposite. By 30 June 2012 they were supposed to have delivered 137,000 connections. In fact, the correct number, the number that came out, was 3,867. That is about three per cent of the original target. Scroll forward one year to June 2013: they were supposed to have connected 317,000; in fact, the number was well under 40,000. The failure of those opposite to deliver their promises on NBN was legendary. We have heard many times from the minister for telecommunications about the Conrovian delusion that resulted in Australians believing they were going to be connected to high-speed broadband, when in fact they were not. Many of those failed connections were in my electorate of Hume.

It goes without saying that connecting small business to broadband is one of the great imperatives of this modern age and a great objective of this government. We know that businesses with fewer than 20 employees employ about 50 per cent of Australians and, if we broaden the definition of small business to those employing fewer than 200, we go closer to 75 per cent. An extraordinary proportion of Australians are employed in small businesses, and that is growing and has been growing for many years. It is one of the great structural trends in our economy that small business is the key employer in our economy. It is the engine of growth. But it is also an engine of innovation, because small businesses experiment. Small businesses have a tolerance for failure. It is no surprise that it was not Microsoft that came up with Google or Facebook or Twitter. They were all small businesses. In fact, the greatest innovations at Microsoft itself occurred when it was a very small business in the back of a garage. If you look at my electorate, small businesses are driving the economy. They are driving growth. Brumby Aircraft, in Cowra, is innovating in the area of design of small aircraft. Sarajane Furniture is competing with the Chinese in low-cost furniture. AFS Products Group has come up with innovative structural products for multiresidential construction. All of those businesses need high-speed internet.

One of the great things we have already heard that this government has done is to reset the focus for the NBN to prioritise those areas of greatest need. Nowhere is there greater need for high-speed internet than rural areas and the urban fringe. Also, importantly, this government has focused on choosing the right technology for the right location. That is exactly what I am seeing in my electorate. We are seeing the rapid rollout of towers in my electorate. We are seeing the accelerated rollout of fibre. We are stopping the bleeding, the extraordinary bleeding, we saw from the satellite technology choice made by those opposite—not buying enough capacity and overselling satellite to try and reach their numbers for the rollout of the NBN.

In my electorate over the next 18 months we will connect 27,000 premises by fibre—that is, about 60 per cent of the electorate. We already now have several thousand connected by NBN fixed wireless towers. We have 12 operating already, with four to come in the next couple months. We will see in the next 12 months or so the launch of two satellites which will deal with the single biggest problem for the NBN, which is those areas that are unable to be reached by other technologies like fibre or fixed wireless.

This is a great imperative for this government. We are already seeing results. We are already seeing people in my electorate incredibly pleased, incredibly happy, that they are able to get very high speed broadband through technology that is well suited to their location. I have no doubt that the results that we have delivered—and those opposite failed to deliver—will continue in the coming weeks, months and years.

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

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion on small business and broadband, and particularly to highlight the failings of this government and of this minister who has overpromised yet chronically underdelivered when it comes to broadband. I would not presume to lecture those opposite about the government's failure on broadband. I will let their own side do it. We will start with Nationals Senator Barry O'Sullivan who, in Queensland Country Life in November 2014, highlighted his severe frustration with the government's lack of rollout and the lack of attention being paid to rural Queensland. The article says:

Mr O'Sullivan saw the gaps in the government's highly touted NBN scheme while touring far-western Queensland earlier this month.

"It's a shame on our nation," Mr O'Sullivan said.

"I'm embarrassed to be a part of a party whose government would allow this to continue.

"I think Malcolm should roll his swag out and run his ministry from out here for a month and then I think Malcolm will change his opinion.

"Let's see how he goes and hope that he doesn't need a phone service or internet, and he'll want to hope he doesn't need medical services."

The article went on to say:

Mr O'Sullivan said implementing the technology on an area-by-area basis was harming rural Australians' ability to compete in the global marketplace.

I will get back to that in a moment. But it is interesting that the article also ended by saying that Mr O'Sullivan:

… believed everyday Australians would see the unfairness in the gap between city and country infrastructure.

"The people of inland Australia feel abandoned by Canberra. They deserve better," he said.

On that issue of technology and the infrastructure gap, you need look no further than Senator Fiona Nash, who is not a fan of this government's model because, as she said herself in 2007, the FTTN solution is actually no solution at all: She said:

It's widely understood in the telecommunications industry that FTTN will not deliver improved broadband speeds to rural and regional areas.

That is spot on.

But I want to highlight a significant issue that I see occurring. We traditionally understood the digital divide as being between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, but now it is quite plain that there is a digital divide emerging between some rural centres and others. You need look no further than the issues of Tamworth and Armidale. In November 2013 in the Northern Daily Leader we read of a regional NBN advocate slamming the Abbott government's broadband plan, saying that abolishing the fibre to the premises network would disadvantage regional centres and their surrounding towns. There is a quote in an article in that paper from Inverell councillor and engineer David Jones, who, according to the article, said that:

… Tamworth should be "bellowing like crazy" over the NBN.

The article went on to say:

Mr Jones, who has a consulting business as a civil and structural engineer, said regional MPs should be concerned and fighting for the NBN.

"Armidale's now complete—

that is, the NBN fibre to the premises—

and they have a huge advantage over every other centre in the New England," Mr Jones said.

But, again, you do not have to take it from these commentators. You can take it from members of the National Party. In September last year, local member Adam Marshall, a New South Wales Nationals MP, speaking in the Armidale Independent said: 'We have a huge advantage in Armidale over all other regional centres in Australia as we are fully NBN connected. We see Armidale as the hub, the incubator, of a digital enterprise zone, and from here we can grow into other centres right across our region.' Well, that is the story for Armidale, but, comparing it to Tamworth, it is quite clear that Tamworth is extremely concerned that they are getting the second-rate nonsolution that is being offered under this government.

I would also like to highlight this. I recently visited Bathurst—a safe National Party seat—and the Bathurst chamber of commerce, and No. 1 on their list of issues was the need for a true fibre to the premises network for their businesses. I quote here from a paper that was provided to me by Mr Steve Semmens, a local who calls himself an advocate for small business:

We are concerned that FTTN … will become s ineffective as the current ADSL 2.

We require FTTP—Fibre to the Premises.

…   …   …

The Federal Government does not appear to realise the HUGE impact on business, especially SME's, they are having by not investing in the technological infrastructure we need to take us successfully into the next 100 years.

…   …   …

How many businesses decide not to set up in regional areas because the internet access is to slow or non-existent?

The bottle neck to future business success and confidence is the lack of understanding and ignorance of Governments Technology policies.

So there you have it, from locals in these areas.

We can plainly see from the get go, in April 2013, the promise that all Australians would have the NBN on by 2016. That promise did not even last until Christmas that year. So this is a government that sold out the bush when they sold off Telstra, sold out the bush on wholesale pricing, and sold— (Time expired)

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forrest for moving this motion and raising awareness of the need for fast and reliable broadband in regional areas. The member for Forrest and I have long advocated the need for the National Broadband Network to support small and medium-sized businesses in regional areas. Since my election, I have been working closely with Dobell's small business community to ensure that their broadband needs are addressed.

In Dobell, small businesses collectively is our largest employer, with approximately 8,500 businesses each employing between one to 20 people. Many of our local businesses are family operated and are looking for opportunities to grow and to generate further employment. A major key to driving this expansion is access to fast and reliable broadband.

Sadly, this was lost on the former Labor government. The original NBN rollout plan in the bill failed to consider the needs of our business community. Business centres such as the Tuggerah Business Park, Wyong CBD and The Entrance town centre were completely ignored. The former Labor government failed even to develop answer these important business communities.

The rollout of the NBN in Dobell was so poorly designed that when I was elected not a single premises had access to fast broadband. Today, approximately one-third of homes and businesses in the electorate have access to the NBN, with a further third under construction. It is estimated that the NBN rollout in Dobell will be completed in 2017, providing fast and reliable broadband services to every household and business.

Following this government's election, a comprehensive audit was undertaken to assess the state of broadband infrastructure throughout Australia. Through this process it was identified that the Central Coast lacked the broadband infrastructure capacity to meet the demand of households and businesses. Unlike the former Labor government, this government promptly developed a plan to expedite the delivery of the NBN to regions such as the Central Coast.

I alluded earlier to the Tuggerah Business Park and the lack of consideration by the former Labor government to acknowledge the park in the initial NBN rollout. The Tuggerah Business Park is home to approximately 220 businesses. Sadly, I am aware of businesses that have considered relocating, and some who decided against basing themselves at the park, due to the lack of broadband services. This is particularly worrying news for a region where the unemployment is above the national average and reliance for work is heavily dependent on small business.

In consultation with the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP, Minister the Communications, I am pleased to say that the Tuggerah Business Park is now being looked at specifically by NBN Co. As a government, we must support our small businesses to thrive, to improve their productivity and to become competitive against other businesses, both at home and abroad. I recently had the opportunity to welcome Minister Turnbull to the Central Coast, where he met with representatives from local government and the business community to discuss this very topic. Attending the meeting was Mr Edgar Adams, editor and publisher of the Central Coast Business Review. Edgar has long advocated the need for the NBN rollout, with priority access for small businesses. Edgar stated, 'Our region has many disadvantages, not the least being our high youth unemployment and lack of employment opportunities. Addressing these issues is very complex, but the best way to start is to create an environment where our region and those people who live, work and go to school here have every opportunity to approve and advance themselves. Central to Edgar's point is access to infrastructure that allows businesses to grow, prosper and employ more people.

The Central Coast is a perfect destination for start-up and relocating businesses, as it is situated midpoint between Sydney and Newcastle. However, our previous lack of broadband infrastructure was holding our region back. Lack of infrastructure has no doubt contributed to the 38,000-commuter exodus from our region every day. For those who travel to Sydney this means an average daily commute of up to four hours—that is 20 hours per week. Fast broadband is opening up new opportunities for employment based on the Central Coast. The Nexus Smart Hub, located at North Wyong, is an innovative new business, offering an alternative to the daily commute. Commuters can avoid the daily commute by 'hot-desking' at the Nexus Smart Hub. This is made possible through high-speed broadband which supports videoconferencing and large file transfers. I look forward to the day when access to this level of broadband is available all businesses within Dobell. I am proud to say that under this government we are on track to achieving this outcome.

I would like to thank the member for Forrest for moving this important motion and for her interest in supporting regional Australia. I commend the motion to the chamber.

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like all members, I like to talk about small business because it is an important part of our community. I do so from the perspective of the practical things we can do for small business. While it is a pleasure to see this motion in the House, I would humbly suggest to members of the government that, rather than waste their time mentioning the things we already know—about small business being the engine room of the economy—since they are in government maybe they could do something for small business. Doing rather than talking would be a good idea but, since they are members of the government and they have been in government for almost 1½ years they will have a deep understanding that, yes, small business does need good telecommunications; they need a good connection to the NBN—that is what they are asking you for. I remind government members where the NBN came from. It came from where other big ideas came from—it is from the community, from business or from Labor. You are not going to see it from the Liberals.

We have lots of evidence of this. In the last 18 months the Liberal government has been tearing down ideas, tearing down everything it can. It wants to cut and slash and do anything except put in new programs and new ideas. It wants to get rid of dozens and dozens of small business organisations, small business assistance schemes, employment schemes and innovation schemes, including bodies that helped small business to innovate and employ. Instead, it just wants to cut and slash. Any member of the House, regardless of their background, ought to agree that small business needs decent telecommunications connections—and fast ones, at that. I hear members crowing about the connections to the NBN they have had in their electorate in recent months or a year ago, and I say isn't it wonderful that the programs that Labor put in place are starting to deliver the fruits for small business. It was Labor that put in place those programs and contracts and set up NBN Co and had a big idea, with the community, that we cannot just live off the old copper network forever. It is a great network that has served us for more than 100 years, but it will not service anyone in 100 years time. That is what the Liberal Party has forgotten.

When Malcolm Turnbull became communications minister his view was that he could not just completely shut down the concept of NBN, so we would have an 'NBN light'. Rather than taking fibre all the way to the home, all the way to the premises, it is just going to be to the node and then we will let everyone fend for themselves. We know that that is not going to work. That is just too difficult and it is not going to deliver the sort of broadband that people want. The fact is now, though, that we just do not get a choice. In the western corridor of Brisbane, through my electorate, one of the fastest growing corridors in Australia, we cannot even get an ADSL connection. You are left with two choices—you are left with satellite or with wireless broadband. These are not good enough for somebody at home let alone for small business. The fact is there are more and more small businesses people who work from home, who self-employ. We should never diminish self-employment as being employment. The other side often talk about small business but they forget that small business is more than companies; they forget that small business is more than those who employ more than 20 people. Sometimes a small business is just somebody employing themselves. I think all the evidence has finally come in, and it is stark—when it comes to the big ideas, it is Labor that puts them forward. With the National Disability Insurance Scheme, we knew that in 20, 30 or 40 years time the current system would break—it cannot survive. We put the NDIS in because we knew we had to do something big. We put the NBN in because we knew that in 20 or 30 or 40 years time—although the current telecommunications system is broken now and needs to be fixed—something would need to happen. Again, we need big ideas about the future, not just cut, cut, cut.

Unfortunately the Liberal Party is in this two-tiered mode—they are trying to implement a two-tiered health system; something for those with a lot of money and something much less for those with less money. They are trying to bring a two-tiered system into education—something for those with lots of cash who can afford $100,000 degrees but the others will have to fight over the small crumbs that are left. We see it in telecommunications—a two-tiered system where there would be one really good telecommunications system, a very fast system for those who can afford it and can afford to pay for that final mile, that final connection to the home or to the business, and then there will be those who will be left with whatever is available for them. The evidence is clear: Labor have the big ideas, and we have put them in place; the Liberal Party get into government and they destroy them and they attack small business on the way.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support his very important motion from the member for Forrest regarding the importance of small business and the importance of fast reliable broadband in regional areas. As we have been hearing in this chamber this morning, this is a government that is determined to support small business, because we believe, as I know the member for Oxley has alluded to, they are the engine room of the Australian economy and of employment. They are the engine room, because we know of course that it is not government that creates jobs; it is business that creates jobs. Small business in particular has a direct and significant impact on local communities, especially in regional areas like my electorate on the Central Coast. In 2013, the National Business Register found there were more than 12,000 local businesses in the Gosford City Council area, whose boundaries are largely within my electorate, and every one of them is important for what they contribute to our region's economy.

It is also true that, like all Australians, small business people should have access to fast, affordable and reliable broadband. This is particularly the case for small businesses in areas like mine. I am pleased to say that after six years of delays and frustration under Labor, Australians now have an NBN rollout plan they can actually rely on. Under the previous government, even suburbs that Labor claimed to be switched on had problems. Labor's approach was to commit $73 billion of taxpayers' money with no analysis, and ignore the fact that their project would raise internet prices by 80 per cent on the most vulnerable consumers. Under the Labor government, only 203 premises on the Central Coast were connected to NBN over a six-year period.

The coalition has the rollout back on track, already rolling NBN out to more than 50,000 premises in my electorate, with a strong commitment to the 18-month rollout plan that includes suburbs like Kariong, Somersby and Macmasters Beach. We are also working with small businesses as we roll out the NBN in locations like Gosford. Just last week I met with the Gosford Chamber of Commerce President Ali Vidler, who has been a great advocate for this city and the importance of connecting businesses to broadband. There has also been a great response to our rollout on the Peninsula. I thank Peninsula Chamber of Commerce President Matthew Wales for his work in standing up for this important area in my electorate. In suburbs like Umina, residents are reporting great download and upload speeds, as our mixed technology rollout continues. Up the road in Koolewong, a great start-up company using leading edge technology, Solar Monitoring Australia, based its global operations centre right on the Koolewong waterfront, and have been reporting encouraging results already. When businesses like this arrive on the Central Coast it is a huge vote of confidence in our region and how we are supporting businesses and creating the right environment for them to thrive and even create jobs.

When the NBN was first made available on the Central Coast it had an enormous impact on businesses like the Real Estate Academy in East Gosford. This business depends on fast, reliable broadband, and has thrived under the NBN. The Real Estate Academy designs and develops leading-edge business systems and career development programs for real estate professionals. The company promises to deliver fresh and up-to-date solutions and training for staff in a fast-paced industry. But to deliver on this promise, they need internet speeds they can rely on. I am pleased to say that business owners Lee Woodward and his wife Robyn have experienced the very beneficial impact the NBN has had on their business. The Real Estate Academy has even been able to improve its ability to deliver one-to-one Skype coaching sessions. Superfast broadband also enabled staff to add webinars and interactive virtual classrooms sessions to the company's output. The Real Estate Academy relies on work being delivered around the clock. They used to load projects overnight, hoping they would be complete by the morning, but the NBN has changed all that. Now, hot topics that could propel his industry forward can be captured, edited and recorded straight away, and delivered and synchronised to clients. Lee Woodward also told me about how the Real Estate Academy has taken on more staff, and now has 17 employees in East Gosford, and another five offsite. In short, the NBN is delivering faster speeds, significant cost savings and greater autonomy to his small business.

This is the fast, reliable and superfast broadband of the future that we are determined to deliver to even more small businesses across the Central Coast. This is a government that is delivering the NBN sooner, cheaper to the taxpayer and more affordably to consumers, and this is good news for businesses in my electorate.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are over 14,000 small businesses in my electorate of Griffith. They do drive employment, enterprise and innovation and they play a vital role in creating and building strong local communities. As this motion states:

… all Australians, including small business people, should have access to fast, affordable and reliable broadband …

By the time today's year 7 students finish high school, their household's internet needs will have increased sixfold. Australians need access to fast, affordable and reliable broadband to meet our needs now and into the future, and if businesses are to take full advantage of the productivity gains and the innovation opportunities available to them this century they need access to a world-class broadband network.

Those opposite sure have some gall to come in here and claim that this government and this minister, the aspiring Prime Minister, have a plan to deliver fast and reliable broadband to the small and medium enterprises of Australia. Rather than a world-class National Broadband Network, this government and this minister have delivered only broken promises and are advocating for a second-rate series of networks of different capabilities, different speeds and different technologies. Now the government wants to create a two-tiered broadband network where the rich can afford super-fast fibre broadband, while people of ordinary means will be stuck with the old copper network.

Our neighbours in Japan, South Korea and Singapore are all investing in fibre to the premises. At the same time, Australia will be relying on an old, outdated copper network, which will very likely be obsolete by the time it is completed. We are putting our businesses and our economy at a disadvantage. There are many communities that, despite the promises of those opposite, cannot even get access to this government's second-rate broadband solution. The minister promised:

Suburbs, regions, towns and business districts with the poorest services and greatest need for upgrades will receive first priority.

That promise has turned out to be pretty hollow for the residents and businesses of Mount Gravatt East in my electorate of Griffith, like the business that Christian McCarty runs. Christian is a digital media professional who runs a small business on the south side. His work in feature films has won critical acclaim overseas, and he needs a reliable internet connection to run his business and compete for work against other firms from around the world. The best internet speed that Christian can get in Mount Gravatt East is 1.6 megabits per second. For a business that is just 12 kilometres from the CBD, that is unacceptable. If we are going to grow our economy, we need to support innovative small and medium-sized enterprises such as Christian's. If we do not have the infrastructure of the 21st century, businesses will not be able to access the opportunities of the 21st century; they will lose those opportunities to other countries, and we will lose those businesses to other countries.

Despite the appalling internet speed that Christian gets, Mount Gravatt East is not even in Mr Turnbull's latest 18-month rollout plan. I wrote to the minister on Christian's behalf, and his response was, 'It's Telstra's problem, but don't worry; we'll get to you by 2020.' Now we are finding out that there will be this $10,000 fee that businesses like Christian's will have to pay for the privilege. In fact, not one suburb in Griffith features in the ministers 18-month rollout plan—not one.

Under Labor's NBN, construction of fibre to the premises would have commenced or have been completed for approximately 77,300 homes, businesses, medical facilities and schools in and around Brisbane's south side by 30 June 2016. This government will disconnect Australia from a high-speed broadband future. It will take us back to the 100-year-old copper wire past and strangle the future growth of Australia's economy.

We all know that productivity is important for future economic growth. Labour productivity has been rising very well, and that was noted in the Reserve Bank governor's recent speech, but multifactorial productivity needs to increase, and world-class broadband will assist us with that.

I call on the minister to update his rollout plan so that the residents and businesses in Mount Gravatt East—and, for that matter, those in suburbs like Cannon Hill, Holland Park, Carina and Coorparoo—can get access to at least something resembling fast, affordable and reliable broadband. This country deserves a world-class broadband network. Our competitors will have it and we need it as well.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Forrest. Small business is the engine room of our economy, and, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are more than 13,000 registered small businesses in my electorate of Ryan—mum and dad enterprises that reinvest in our community, source local products and employ our family and friends. In Queensland, more than 50 per cent of the private sector workforce is employed by small businesses, and they contribute 46 per cent of our gross state product. Before I entered politics, I had my own small business for 20 years. When you go into business you take on considerable financial risk. You are forced to prioritise expenditure and you regularly make significant personal sacrifices for the sake of your business and your employees. When we invest in small business, we invest in our community.

I have previously spoken in this place about the importance of supporting small business, particularly during the peak retail periods such as Christmas, and the local multiplier effect that occurs when we do so. When we spend our money at large chain stores just 13.6 per cent of the money we spend is reinvested in the local economy, as opposed to 48 per cent when we buy from our local traders. Small business plays a key role in supporting growth and economic opportunity, and that is why the coalition is wholly committed to seeing it prosper.

Of the 13,000-plus small businesses in Ryan, almost 80 per cent are involved in services industries. These businesses range from small retailers to large professional service firms with international clients. If these businesses are to succeed and keep pace with constantly evolving technologies and changing business models, we must ensure that they have access to affordable, fast and reliable broadband internet. Indeed, as technology becomes more integrated in our everyday lives, the economic imperative for fast and reliable broadband, especially for small business, is amplified. Whether it be the local greengrocer introducing a PayPass terminal to speed up sales or the local health clinic providing after-hours telehealth services to patients, the role of the internet in modern-day business cannot be understated.

It may surprise members to learn that there are areas in my electorate of Ryan located in the heart of a capital city—Brisbane—that do not have access to fast and reliable broadband internet. Rural properties, as well as new housing estates in the west of my electorate, continue to persevere with outdated technology unsuitable for the new and constantly evolving applications that the internet offers. It is for this reason that the cost-effective and timely rollout of the National Broadband Network is so crucial for my electorate and many others.

When Labor were in office they had no plan to deliver a cost-effective and timely rollout of the National Broadband Network. The former Labor government's rollout projections were unrealistic, and costs continued to blow out by billions of dollars with no regard for taxpayers' money or affordability. I congratulate the current Minister for Communications for the work he has done to save the National Broadband Network from becoming a monumental public infrastructure disaster and for placing it on a clear and stable path of delivery.

The world we live in today is much smaller than the one we grew up in. Tyrannies of distance have been overcome, and cultural barriers have been broken down. Today, we live and work in a global economy. While this brings with it significant economic risk and trade exposure of industry, overwhelmingly it represents unprecedented economic opportunity, particularly with the new trade agreements that the Minister for Trade has opened up with Korea, Japan and China. The key to ensuring that we seize this opportunity is being adaptive to change, especially as business practices evolve and new technologies emerge. A national broadband network is absolutely pivotal in ensuring that Australia's small businesses keep pace with the changing nature of business and trade both domestically and abroad. I commend this motion to the House.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been extraordinary this morning to be here listening to coalition member after coalition member talk about the NBN and clothe themselves in the mantle of the NBN, because let us not forget that the NBN is a great Labor initiative. It was an initiative that was steadfastly opposed by our Prime Minister. Indeed, it was only through the intercession of the next Prime Minister, one Malcolm Turnbull, that we got 'NBN lite'—the second-rate product that is currently being outlined.

I agree with the first three propositions that the member for Forrest has put forward, but I must strenuously disagree with the fourth. I see absolutely no evidence that there is any prioritising of delivery for the areas of greatest need. I will use my own electorate of Perth as a classic case in point. The suburbs of Ashfield, Bassendean, Beechboro, Eden Hill, Kiara, Lockridge and Morley were previously on the NBN rollout plan for 2013-14. Almost $2 million had been spent on the Bassendean Telstra exchange in order to get it ready for the NBN. But when the coalition came into government, these suburbs were binned from the rollout schedule.

In Minister Turnbull's broadband quality and availability review, which allegedly was going to guide where he was going to insert the NBN, those suburbs came out as having the very lowest speeds and reliability in Australia. Indeed, the surveys that we have taken suggest that the estimated speeds in those suburbs are overestimating the real speeds that are being delivered in these suburbs. It is very hard to reconcile that we are now prioritising those areas where the need is greatest when we have chopped all of those areas of Perth out of contention. When I ask the minister about it, in letters and in questions, he just says: 'Well, you'll get it by 2020.' My suspicion is that the problem is the copper wire in these suburbs is of such a poor quality that they know that their seriously bad fibre-to-the-node plan just simply is not going to work in this area.

Let us have a look at the rest of Western Australia. The member for Forrest was setting out the benefits of the long-term satellite plan. This was a scheme that was developed and scheduled by Labor—a scheme that Minister Turnbull when in opposition sneered at as being a Rolls Royce initiative. Labor then introduced an interim service which was very quickly oversubscribed.

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was, but we developed the plan. Now Minister Turnbull has said he is going to have this fixed—but he has not fixed it. Let me tell you a story from the member for Forrest's own electorate—the story of Jeff Pow and Michelle McManus of Balingup. They have a vertically integrated, specialist, free-range poultry business. They are a young entrepreneurial couple who direct sales through social media. This has given their company a very high profile, and it has made them profitable. They rely on the internet for the way in which their business is structured. They tell me that they have such abysmal speeds and data packages that they are simply insufficient for running a modern business. 'We are disadvantaged,' they tell me. They tell me that every day they have to put their computer in the car and drive off into town—a 30-kilometre round trip—to get enough signal so that they can continue to operate their business.

Rolling out this infrastructure is a challenge. But let us be very clear: this is a vision that was driven by Labor and dumbed down by this government. There are challenges. Minister Turnbull is not able to deliver the speeds that he has promised, nor has he been able to commit to the delivery schedule that we had set up in relation to satellite. He has found he has to delay both of those satellites that are delivering the long-term satellite scheme that the member for Forrest was talking about. These are difficult and challenging areas. But let us remember, it was Labor that had the vision. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.