David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Mobile Black Spot Program is incredibly important. It was created by the coalition government back in 2014. The guidelines were put out in 2013, and the program itself began in 2014. It's incredibly important because people in rural and regional Australia need mobile communications access. It's not a nice-to-have; it's a must-have. It's fundamental to the way we live, the way we work, the way we communicate and the way we communicate in times of crisis and times of emergency, so it's incredibly important. The coalition is passionate about the Mobile Black Spot Program. We will always fight for it. We will always defend it.

That's why it is so shocking that, in the budget recently released, we see that the government, on page 220 of Budget Paper No. 1, refers to the conclusion of the Mobile Black Spot Program. When you follow the numbers through in the budget, what you see is that, in 2027-28, there are zero dollars allocated to the Mobile Black Spot Program—not a single dollar. The government says that that's all okay, somehow, because there are other programs—in particular, a program called the better connectivity program—that will effectively do the same thing. But the problem is that, when you look at the budget papers, again, in three years time, how much money is allocated to the better connectivity program? Zero dollars. So there are zero dollars in the Mobile Black Spot Program, there are zero dollars in the better connectivity program, and there are zero dollars in the Peri-Urban Mobile Program—the three programs that are all broadly related—and the government says, 'That's okay.' It's not okay. It is the abolition of the Mobile Black Spot Program. There is not one dollar of funding for that program into the future from three years from now, and that is a disgrace. It is shameful. It must be funded.

The minister actually appeared on Sounds of the Mountains this morning, which no doubt is a widely-listened-to radio program. She was interviewed by David Eisenhauer on Sounds of the Mountains. In regard to the Mobile Black Spot Program, she said, 'The budget papers clearly show that the program is being funded through the better connectivity program.' The only problem with that statement is that people can read. If you read the budget papers, how much money is allocated to the better connectivity program in 2027-28? Zero. So how does the better connectivity program fund the Mobile Black Spot Program, which is also zero, if there are zero dollars allocated to the better connectivity program? Mr Eisenhauer, the interviewer, probably hadn't been through the budget papers in detail, but some people have. It is very concerning to have a minister who is obviously struggling across a number of fronts say something which is demonstrably false in that way. It is not appropriate, and it is very disappointing.

The funding for the Mobile Black Spot Program actually goes up in the election year—quite dramatically, in some cases, it goes up, oddly, in an election year; I'm sure it's a total coincidence—and then goes down to zero. It's shameful, but it's part of a pattern in relation to the Mobile Black Spot Program. Just last week, of course, the Auditor-General released a very important report into round 6 of the Mobile Black Spot Program. What does that report show? Let's recall that the now Prime Minister said that programs shouldn't be funded on the basis of them being in marginal seats. That's what the Prime Minister said before he was Prime Minister. His actions are different now that he is Prime Minister. What did the Auditor-General find? Eighty-one per cent of the seats personally hand-selected by the minister were in marginal seats for the Mobile Black Spot Program round 6. Even better, 74 per cent of the locations chosen by the minister, the Auditor-General tells us, were in Labor seats.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No!

David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Isn't that remarkable—74 per cent in Labor seats. And it was done in such a haphazard fashion that in New South Wales, where 27 out of 27 allocations were in Labor seats, 10 of the allocations didn't go ahead—in some cases because nobody even applied for the funding.

This is trashing the Mobile Black Spot Program. It is treating the program with an appalling lack of respect. The coalition will never do that, and the government must restore funding to this crucial program.