Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister promised Australians that his second-rate copper NBN would be 'Fast. Affordable. Sooner.' Given that we now know that his second-rate copper NBN is slower than Labor's, has doubled in cost and will not be delivered when he promised, does the Prime Minister take responsibility for the fact that his NBN is actually slow, expensive and late?

Mr Christensen interjecting—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Dawson will cease interjecting as will the member for Moreton. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

I am afraid to say that the Leader of the Opposition is in a parallel universe—perhaps 'Conrovia', I think, is the best way to describe it. The nbn publishes its rollout figures every week. Under the Labor government, they were published as and when the minister saw fit; under this government, they are published every single week. In the last week, for example, it was reported to 18 February that 26,524 additional premises were covered by the network. Of those, about 14,000 additional connections were made.

The NBN is rolling out, as I said earlier. We have activated serviceable premises 10 times greater than the number we inherited at the election. The fact is that the NBN under its new management is meeting its targets. It will have services available in one in four Australian premises by 30 June and it estimates that two years after that, in 2018, we will have services available in three out of four premises.

The changes to the rollout design that the government undertook will see the project finish six to eight years sooner and at around $30 billion less cost. So the approach we are taking will see it completed sooner and at much less cost.

The Leader of the Opposition referred to copper, by which I assume he was referring to the fibre–to-the-node hybrid technology which is being used. The chief executive of the nbn, Mr Morrow, announced on 5 February that they had surveyed NBN users' satisfaction for the various technologies and found that the satisfaction for customers using fibre to the premises and fibre to the nodes was at exactly the same level.

The facts speak for themselves. The Leader of the Opposition can fool himself. We are living in the real world, and the nbn is getting on with the job.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the Leader of the Opposition over the last three questions has persistently ignored standing order 91(e). He has just done it again—

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

The member for Bass will resume his seat. I have asked the Leader of the Opposition a number of times. The member for Bass heard my very specific—

Opposition members interjecting—

Members on my left will cease interjecting or they will be ejected. I made some very specific remarks earlier in question time with respect to the Prime Minister's answer and the Leader of the Opposition's questions. The principle that there is a leniency is long established, but I have asked the Leader of the Opposition a number of times, and my patience is wearing. But, if the member for Bass's point is: are the leaders of both political parties given extra latitude compared to other members? The answer is yes, and that is a well-established principle—not established by me, I might point out.