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

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government ensuring Australians have access to affordable broadband now and into the future? Are there any threats to a publicly owned and affordable NBN?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bennelong for his question. Indeed, the NBN was built by Australians for Australians, and it belongs to Australians. And it belongs in public hands, because it should be affordable and accessible to all Australians. We've introduced legislation into the House today that safeguards the future of the NBN, making sure it can't be privatised, sold off or hollowed out, because there has never been a public service or asset that the Liberal Party didn't want to carve up and sell off. That is what they do. And they had this to say when they vehemently opposed the creation of the NBN. Of course, Malcolm Turnbull was then the shadow minister for broadband. I used to say 'the shadow minister for fraud-band and the copper economy'; that's what I called him at the time. He said there was probably no Gillard government policy more inexcusably or needlessly reckless than the construction of the National Broadband Network. We know as well that Tony Abbott, the former prime minister, is one of the key advisers of the current Leader of the Opposition. He had this to say:

It's pretty obvious that the main usage for the NBN is going to be internet-based television, video entertainment and gaming … do we really want to invest $50 billion worth of hard-earned taxpayers' money in what is essentially a video entertainment system?

They didn't get it. They didn't get the role that the NBN plays in education services delivery for every child and every student, the role that it plays in the delivery of health services, the role that it plays in agriculture and the critical role that it plays in our national security system as well. They spent a decade trying to destroy the NBN. They introduced 60,000 kilometres of copper to roll out an inferior network, replacing fibre with copper that was redundant before it was even finished. The cost blew out from $29 billion to $57 billion. It was out of date before it was operational.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left! The Minister for Infrastructure!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, they show their opposition to this through their reactions. They show their hatred of a system that they opposed from the beginning and that they undermined when they were in government. They don't understand as well that this is a part of creating equity for every Australian.