Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects, representing the Minister for Communications. Will the minister please outline how the launch of the first long-term satellite, Sky Muster, will benefit regional and rural Australians in country electorates such as mine of O'Connor?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for O'Connor for this very important question. He is a—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call him, I remind the member for Grayndler of my previous rulings on frivolous points of order. This cannot be on relevance given the minister had not opened his mouth.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is on the question.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is on the question. In order to—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler has not got the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I said the member for Grayndler has not got the call. I am not going to be interrupted. The member for Grayndler on a point of order, and he can state the point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it goes to the question, Mr Speaker. In order to be in order, the question needed to point out that it was funded by this side and opposed by him.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler is warned.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

The Leader of the House will cease interjecting. I cannot hear the minister.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for O'Connor for this very important question. He is an extremely strong advocate for the needs of his constituents when it comes to communications in remote areas. He has a huge electorate, which covers very long distances, as I saw on my visit to his electorate on 20 May, when we went from Albany through to Cranbrook, to Williams and to Perth. That was a good insight into the scale of his electorate, and, of course, many electorates represented by members on this side of the House will benefit very markedly from the long-term satellite service.

As the member correctly states in his question, on 1 October the first NBN satellite successfully launched from the Arianespace facility in French Guiana, heading for geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres. This is an enormously important step. Satellite is a key technology for serving regional and remote Australia, and there has never been any political contention on that. All the technical advice has been consistent on that point. But what we saw from the other side of the House was a comprehensive mismanagement of the interim satellite service, leading to enormous frustration in regional and remote Australia. The previous government claimed that its interim satellite service could serve 250,000 premises. In fact, it only purchased enough transponder capacity to serve 48,000 premises. And the previous government failed to ensure that NBN had the technical and contractual tools required to manage the amount of data which retail service providers promised to supply end customers.

The long-term satellite service, by contrast, has been well managed by NBN, and we see that higher speeds than the interim satellite service will be available once commercial service commences—25 megabits per second peak speed down, five megabits per second peak speed up, markedly higher download capacity and 101 spot beams covering all of Australia—plus, I am pleased to note as minister for territories, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and Cocos Island.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton is now warned.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Four hundred and twelve thousand premises will be covered. It has been a daunting technical task to get this satellite launched. Pleasingly, it is now in its geostationary orbit. There are a series of tests that now need to be carried out. Commercial service is expected by mid-2016, and at that point Australians will be able place orders for a service delivered over the long-term satellite service. This is a game changer for satellite broadband services in remote and regional Australia, and the Turnbull government is again delivering where Labor conspicuously failed to.

Mr Husic interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley will cease interjecting.