Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the issues that people in my electorate raise with me on an ongoing basis is their desire for high-speed quality broadband. That is part of the reason why I have been so pleased that the coalition government has been able to make available to constituents in my electorate of Moncrieff on the Gold Coast good quality high-speed broadband so much sooner than otherwise would have been the case.

We know that the Labor Party outlined their vision for the NBN, a vision that was going to cost $30 billion more and would not have seen the Gold Coast connected to the NBN until 2024. Under the coalition we have been able to save more than $30 billion of taxpayers' money, plus, more importantly for residents in my electorate, the NBN will be rolled out across my electorate six years earlier than otherwise would have been the case if the Labor Party had stayed in government. Rolling it out six years earlier means that we will see the Gold Coast fitted with NBN basically in full by the end of 2018 across my electorate of Moncrieff. As it stands today, we have seen NBN construction commence in a number of key suburbs in my electorate: Ashmore, Benowa, parts of Bundall, Broadbeach Waters and Mermaid Waters. Over the coming months these key areas will have access to fast, affordable broadband thanks to the coalition.

The Gold Coast is Australia's innovation city. I want to make sure that we are delivering government policy that is respectful of taxpayers' money and that delivers a technological solution providing speeds of up to 100 megabits per second and indeed in future years even higher speeds. We know that the vast bulk of customers who sign up to the NBN sign up to 25 megabits per second. Gold Coasters in my electorate will have access to that speed as it is progressively rolled out across the seat of Moncrieff. For those who have access inside the next few months that is fantastic news. The balance of the electorate will then see the rollout of the NBN, as I said, so essentially the whole electorate will be done by 2018, with some exceptions where there are greater technological challenges to be overcome.

In summary, as we continue to build and prepare for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and as we see NBN working cooperatively and constructively with GOLDOC, the Commonwealth Games organising committee, we will make sure international tourists have a high-quality experience when they visit the Gold Coast by making sure that Gold Coast businesses are ready to embrace new technology that will deliver them incredible access to the internet and of course global markets as well as domestic markets through high-speed broadband. Importantly, local Gold Coast residents in my electorate will have the NBN quicker, faster, sooner and much more cheaply under the coalition than would otherwise have been the case if Labor were still in power.