Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications. In my electorate of Indi there is great support for the NBN, and constituents regularly call my office for information. While I know that the NBN is a wholesaler, and marketing is not its key role, there is great demand for more information. Will the minister please encourage the NBN to reconsider its decision to stop community engagement strategies and in fact encourage the NBN to take a lead role in meeting the community's needs for more relevant, more timely and more accurate information?

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

I say again to the member for Indi how gratified I am by the very keen interest she shows in the NBN—considerably more than the member for Blaxland, although I was praising him earlier today for his cooperation on the data retention bill. Under the Labor Party we saw a massive effort to try to exaggerate the progress of the NBN. I have talked about that before. In fact, tens of millions of dollars were spent on advertising the NBN, most often in areas where there was no sight or prospect of the NBN at all. As the honourable member knows, the fixed line rollout in Wodonga has not begun, but there was an NBN truck sent there in 2012 to explain how fabulous it was going to be. The approach that we are taking is a much more measured one.

In the honourable member's electorate of Indi more than 40 fixed wireless towers are in various stages of design and construction. The NBN Co is engaged with the City of Wangaratta, the Benalla City Council, the Indigo Shire Council and the Mansfield Shire Council and has conducted all of the consultation processes that those councils have requested. As the fixed line rollout progresses in Indi there will be more consultation as well.

The honourable member is also well aware that the NBN Co has been very proactive in its engagement with her and her office—a stark contrast to the treatment we received, I might say, when we were in opposition. I can confirm that Justin Jarvis, from the NBN Co's government relations team, visited the honourable member's electorate office in Wangaratta on 3 March, and provided her with a comprehensive overview of NBN activity and publicly released plans for the NBN in the Indi electorate. That follows at least three engagements with her electorate office and with the honourable member herself in Canberra through the NBN Co's government relations in this city. In fact, following her wildly successful question last week, her office was contacted and offered another briefing on the updated 18-month rollout plan. The meeting was arranged for next Thursday.

The government and the NBN Co are very keen to provide to provide her, and indeed all honourable members, with as much information as we can. There are already, in the electorate of Indi, over 7,000 premises where the fixed wireless service is available. There are another 6,000 where the build is underway, and there are 8,000 premises in the national rollout plan, which is currently published to June 2016.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

There will be silence on my left. If question time is going to continue in an orderly manner there will be silence on my left.