Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Australian Labor Party established the National Broadband Network (NBN) Co in 2009;

(b) the NBN Co was established to connect all Australians with fast, accessible and reliable broadband;

(c) the former Government's move to a multi-technology mix, using the copper broadband network, resulted in reduced broadband speeds, less reliability and increased costs to NBN Co; and

(d) businesses and everyday Australians require fast and reliable broadband to operate;

(2) acknowledges that the:

(a) use of the copper broadband network has delayed access to fast and reliable broadband;

(b) existing broadband infrastructure requires upgrading due to the former Government's use of copper technology;

(c) Government committed $2.4 billion in the October 2022-2023 budget to expand full-fibre access to an additional 1.5 million premises by late 2025, including 660,000 in regional Australia; and

(d) Government will continue to ensure all Australians can have access to fast and reliable broadband; and

(3) further notes that Australian families deserve access to internet that is affordable and meets the needs of small business, education, and recreation.

In 2009 the then federal government, under Kevin Rudd, proposed one of the most ambitious infrastructure builds in modern times. Much like any other infrastructure project initiated by government, whether it be sewerage, roads or energy systems, it is not only necessary but vital to a modern-day society. The National Broadband Network was designed to connect Australians to an increasingly interconnected and globalised world. It was to be built with the future in mind, ensuring that Australians could benefit for decades. However, many did not see that benefit. Instead, they claimed that Australians did not need faster internet speeds and labelled it as unnecessary and a waste. We now know that Australians don't just want faster and more reliable internet; they need it. During the COVID pandemic, Australians had to work, see a doctor and attend school from home. It was clear how necessary reliable broadband was. We saw the impacts of the previous government's failed NBN policy.

The NBN was meant to be a public infrastructure project, with the goal of providing Australians with world-leading broadband. Instead, it was diverted onto a politically determined path laid out by the former government that aimed to prove that fibre to the premises was unnecessary. The Abbott government's changes to the multitechnology mix, which championed fibre to the node, were promised to be cheaper for taxpayers and quicker to roll out. Instead, Australians received an outdated broadband network, with reduced speeds and less reliability, for an even higher price tag. In 2013 the Abbott government estimated that the project would cost $29.5 billion. It blew out to $56 billion. It was an incredibly expensive and failed experiment, and, as this became obvious, the previous government announced further funding of $4.5 billion in 2020. The Albanese government is committed to restoring the original intent of the NBN: fast and reliable internet for all Australians. The importance of fast internet for both economic and social growth can't be understated. Businesses need to adapt to a digital business model as households are increasingly working or studying from home.

The shift to online mediums didn't begin with COVID, but the pandemic has accelerated the change that was already occurring, and it will continue, which is why we're ensuring, as a government, that more households can access full-fibre broadband. In the October 2022-23 budget, the Albanese government committed a further $2.4 billion to expand full-fibre access to 1.5 million premises. In Werriwa that includes suburbs like Hinchinbrook and Middleton Grange, which will be able to order a full-fibre upgrade on demand from 2024. Those suburbs are in addition to many more in the electorate of Werriwa and surrounding south-west suburbs, like Leppington, Bringelly, Rossmore, Austral, Kemps Creek, Catherine Field, Denham Court, Gledswood Hills and Gregory Hills, where people can already order their fibre connections and receive all the benefits of world-class, reliable broadband today. I encourage those residents to visit the NBN website for more information. These are suburbs with new families moving in and new schools and businesses being built. With the opening of the Western Sydney Airport in the near future, it's vital that households and businesses have fast and reliable broadband. Whether you're in a metropolitan, suburban or regional area, everyone deserves to benefit from nation-building infrastructure projects, and the NBN is no exception.

A study commissioned by NBN Co, undertaken by Accenture in 2021, found that Australians derive an average of $1,920 in value every year from their NBN plan. It saves Australians an average of 170 hours a year, by making essential tasks easier to do online. There is significant social and economic value in saving almost four working weeks a year. Australians can spend that time doing what matters most to them. By 2025, 90 per cent of households and businesses in the NBN fixed-line footprint, including 660,000 premises in regional Australia, will have access to gigabit speeds—1,000 megabits per second.

I know that many residents in Werriwa look forward to having access to faster broadband, and that's what the Albanese government is delivering, so that they can take advantage of the world-class opportunities available for them, their children and their businesses.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to hold the Labor government to account for their dismal record on internet and phone connectivity for this country. Under Labor, the NBN was such a train wreck of a project that its network passed only three per cent of Australian premises at a whopping amount of money: $6 billion. The rollout was so badly managed that contractors downed tools and stopped construction work in four states around the country. When the coalition took over responsibility for the NBN, we set about fixing the problem in a methodical way.

Our strategic review recommended using a combination of rollout technologies—the multi-technology mix. We invested $4.5 billion in 2020 to ensure that 75 per cent of premises across Australia could connect to much faster broadband speeds. A key part of this commitment was to upgrade two million fibre-to-the-node sites to fibre to the premises to access these very high speeds. Importantly, this was financed through the NBN accessing private-sector debt at low interest rates over the long term, meaning that no additional investment by the Commonwealth was required. As part of this initiative, NBN Co aim to invest $700 million over the next three years to provide 90 per cent of all Australian businesses with access to business grade fibre at no upfront cost.

Transforming the access and affordability of business grade fibre and increasing competition and choice have proven to have been critical in our economic recovery from COVID-19. This was a game changer for small and medium-sized businesses in boosting productivity, fostering innovation and allowing businesses to embrace opportunities for growth. If the NBN had not been rolled out with such speed and purpose by the former coalition government using all available technologies, millions of premises throughout Australia may have languished on ADSL speeds of eight megabits per second on average or endured, indeed, having no internet service at all. Because of the coalition's approach, the NBN was there for Australians when they desperately needed it after the pandemic hit. Almost overnight, we had to adapt the way we worked, learned, accessed vital services and kept in touch with our loved ones.

Labor's record on the NBN is appalling. During the 2013 election campaign, the then minister for communications, Anthony Albanese, the member for Grayndler, announced with great fanfare that broadband was now available to 5,400 homes and businesses in Sydney. What he didn't say was that close to 1,000 of these homes were service class 0 and a massive 98.6 per cent had no fibre connecting the home at all. At the time of the 2013 federal election, NBN Co said it had passed 209,000 premises but close to 80 per cent of these had no fibre going into the home. We've seen this play before. It's typical Labor—very good with PR but absolutely hopeless when it comes to implementing policy.

NBN is critically important to regional and remote Australian communities, but so too is mobile telephone connectivity. Sadly, Labor has poor form with this technology as well. Their Mobile Black Spot Program was a failure, riddled with dodgy deals and mismanagement. Let me be very clear: the coalition government takes the issue of mobile black spots very seriously. In fact, since 2013, we've invested $308 million in our Mobile Black Spot Program, delivering new or improved mobile coverage to more than 1,200 communities right across the country. Labor claimed their program would deliver 765 new base stations. In reality, it was only 499. To make matters worse, many of the base stations were built in areas that already had coverage, while many areas with no coverage were left to languish.

I was extremely disappointed—shocked, even—to hear that, in Labor's new round of mobile black spot funding, 74 per cent of selected locations are in Labor's electorates. While Labor has once again looked after their own, our regional communities have been ignored, and they are suffering as a result. In my own very large electorate—the largest electorate in the land—there was only one site selected in this latest round. It is quite unbelievable. Minister Rowland needs to fully explain her role in personally selecting this list of sites so that we can clearly understand what the basis of it was. The Labor government has consistently demonstrated that they don't understand Australia, and this is another example.

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor Party is the party that brings Australia forward. We're the party who introduced all of the things that make this country great, like paid parental leave and Medicare, just to name a couple of the nation-building changes put in place by us, the Labor Party. The NBN was meant to be another of those things that made our country great, and it would have been if the Labor Party had remained in government. But, as with many things implemented by those opposite, it became a massive flop. Instead of putting our country ahead of the rest of the world, we were left behind. Instead of making the most of the world-leading optic fibre that was available to us, they used copper—and it was Aussies that copped the consequences. They went for a cheap option instead of going for 'job done once, job done right'. So now we are here to do the job that should have been done properly the first time.

The internet isn't just the way of the world in the future; it's the way of the world right now. Thirteen years ago, we wanted to provide all Australians with fast, accessible and reliable broadband, but instead they got the cheap option, which was far from fast and reliable. It's ironic that this cheaper option turned out to be more expensive at the end of the day. Paying more for a product that is not as good—what sort of a deal is that?

This is a government that has a lot of work to do. We have a lot of catching up to do if Australia is to keep up with the rest of the world when it comes to the standard of our broadband. But this is a government that doesn't want Australia or Australians to be left behind, so we're getting on with the job straightaway.

This government committed $2.4 billion in the October 2022-23 budget to expanding full-fibre access to an additional 1.5 million premises by late 2025. We are ensuring that all Australians can have access to fast and reliable broadband, because Australian families deserve access to internet that is affordable, and it is just a simple fact that, if our country is to advance, our internet must meet the needs of small business, education and recreation.

This is good news for my electorate of Hunter. My constituents will be jumping with joy over these 1.5 million premises. And 660,000 of these are in regional Australia. On this side of the House, we may not wear puffer vests with slogans on them, but we sure do care about regions like my electorate, the Hunter. This announcement is just one example of a focus on regional Australia that will bring practical and significant benefits to all parts of the community, from businesses to families. Our most recent announcement meant that a further 14,637 households in my electorate will be able to upgrade to a full-fibre broadband connection. This covers almost all corners of my electorate, from Wyee to Wangi Wangi, Wallsend, Singleton, Glendale, Edgeworth, Cooranbong, Cessnock, Cardiff and Bonnells Bay—and this is just the start.

The NBN has been vital for our country. There are no two ways about it. The NBN has kept Australians connected, has supported remote learning and telehealth, and has expanded the reach of small business into new markets and customers. It is good for just about all parts of our country.

Sadly, there is a digital divide in this country which impacts regional and rural electorates like mine. But we are determined to narrow this divide. That's why the Minister for Communications made available $480 million to upgrade the fixed wireless network, within months of coming into government, something the coalition promised but never actually delivered. We're also narrowing the digital divide between our major cities and regional communities. From upgrades to Sky Muster Plus, fixed wireless and the fixed-line network, our government is determined to give Australians access to the 21st-century communications infrastructure they need and they deserve.

It's clear how important this infrastructure is for our country, and it's obvious how important it is for my electorate, the Hunter. This is why it's so important that we finish the job that we started and bring the NBN up to scratch, giving Australia the world-standard broadband that we first intended to provide. Only an Albanese Labor government delivers for all Australians.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Werriwa for this important motion. In 2013, the then independent member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, spoke in this very chamber about the ageing and poorly maintained copper-wire network for NBN in our electorate. Today, almost 10 years on, here we are, still talking about the copper networks. Dissatisfied, disadvantaged and disconnected, that's how our Strathbogie Shire in my electorate of Indi and its residents feel about the NBN. Fibre is only available in two towns and then only to some. Most of the residents rely on fixed wireless and satellite. The mobile phone system and NBN alike face congestion, slower speeds and dropouts.

The NBN rollout has been disappointingly slow. If ever there was a case of overpromise and under-deliver, it has to be the NBN, most especially for rural, regional and remote Australians. In 2020, the Morrison government, however, announced that the NBN was complete. Well, we knew that nothing could be further from the truth. Even where people have an NBN connection, there's absolutely no guarantee that they'll get what they pay for. Broadband providers often advertise speeds which do not match what the customers actually receive. We knew in 2020, when that announcement was made of the completion of the NBN, and we know now, that NBN service levels of 25 megabits per second are considered to have been met if a user's connection reached that speed just twice a day. We knew then, as we know now, that the standard of 19 days to provision a new service in regional Australia and up to three days to fix a network fault are too slow to attract businesses to regional areas.

So, when I introduced the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Faster Internet for Regional Australia) Bill 2022, I hoped it would establish ambitious standards for NBN and other service providers who own and operate broadband infrastructure so that they must meet service standards or face serious financial penalties—standards such as an average minimum speed of 25 megabits per second.

We cannot accept another government putting regional communities in the too-hard basket. Programs such as the Regional Co-Investment Fund were established by the former government to improve satellite or fixed wireless NBN connections, including upgrading both fibre to the premises and supporting higher speeds. This $300 million fund operates on a co-investment model, where governments stump up funding alongside NBN Co where investment would be subcommercial.

However, smaller local councils have sounded the alarm that they are most disadvantaged by this system. Their low ratepayer base limits their ability to co-fund this new infrastructure. When customers choose to explore other possibilities under the Technology Choice Program, it's not uncommon for them to be quoted a $330 fee. One constituent in the town of Bright in my electorate was quoted over $19,000 for infrastructure installation to get fibre to the premises. We are talking about a service we have already paid for through our taxes. Why are we being asked to pay for it again?

On top of this, last week a government discussion paper revealed that the NBN Co chief executive, Stephen Rue, was paid almost $700,000 in bonuses for the last financial year. Three NBN executives collectively received more than $1 million in bonuses during the same period—and these are bonuses; this isn't even their annual salary! By comparison, if the NBN were to be delivered to every one of the 494 households in little Violet Town in my electorate, a community who has no fibre network at all, it would cost about $2.2 million for fibre to the premises or $1.2 million for fibre to the node. In other words, it would cost about the same amount to finally give every household in Violet Town the NBN as it would to give four NBN executives their annual bonuses.

I appreciate that the current government has recognised the shortfalls that have resulted from the previous policies on the NBN rollout, but I'm calling on this government to really do something concrete, remedy these failures and make meaningful improvements that will prepare us for the future and bring us what we need today: excellent speeds and reliable service in rural, regional and remote Australia.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 30