Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I refer the minister to the recent collapse of Telstra’s plans to build a fibre-to-the-node network and the government’s lack of an alternative plan. Is the minister aware of comments by a Telstra spokesman on Telstra’s official Now We Are Talking website pointing out that, while outer suburbs and the bush will be the losers from the government’s lack of leadership:

Senator Coonan won’t be missing out—you can be sure the leafy city suburbs that are home to the likes of her and Graeme Samuel will have an array of great fast landline broadband deals to choose from, as will anyone living within 1.5 kilometres from an exchange.

Does the minister agree with Telstra that those living outside ‘the leafy city suburbs’ will be losing out as a result of her lack of leadership?