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

My question is to the Minister for Urban Infrastructure representing the Minister for Communications. Will the minister further update the House on the strong progress of the NBN rollout under the Turnbull government? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to answer that question from the member for Robertson, who knows something about telecommunications. The member for Robertson has significant experience working in the telecommunications sector, as of course does the Prime Minister, which he deployed to very good advantage when he had ministerial responsibility for the NBN.

How is that to be contrasted with the minister who was previously responsible for the NBN? That, of course, was a senator in the other place, Senator Conroy, memorably described by one of his own Labor comrades as a 'factional dalek'. Indeed, Robert Ray went on to say:

A whole production line of soulless apparatchiks has emerged … individuals who would rather the party lose an election than that they lose their place in the pecking order.

That is one experienced former Labor parliamentarian talking about the man who was previously responsible for delivering the NBN. So is it any surprise that the previous delivery of the NBN, under the previous government, was such a hopeless debacle? Is it any surprise that after six years in government they had spent $6 billion and they had barely 50,000 premises connected to the NBN?

Let us look at the member's own electorate of Robertson, because it is not a coincidence that the member for Robertson is back in this place as a second-term member; it reflects her hard work, it reflects delivery of outcomes and it reflects the fact that there are 27,000 premises in Robertson which now have an active connection. In September 2013 that number was 306—306 people in Robertson when Labor left power; that number is now 27,000.

The Turnbull government is delivering when it comes to the NBN. As the Prime Minister has rightly said, just in the last month 94,000 is the increase in the number of premises now connected to the NBN, reflecting a competent, experienced board; competent, capable, experienced management. And what has the chief executive of NBN said just in the past few days? He has pointed out that nearly two-thirds of Australian premises are now under design, under construction or able to order an NBN service. The CEO of NBN, Bill Morrow, has pointed out that the NBN will be nearly halfway finished by June 2017; it will be three-quarters done by June 2018; it will be done by 2020. That is what the chief executive is saying. That is delivery. That is what a competent government can do. This lot would not know the first thing about it.