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

I withdraw—the Australian public about the extent and coverage of broadband in this country. Here are the facts, and I will state them again. I have spoken on this issue before in the chamber. I want to make sure that Australians who are listening today understand the parlous state of the broadband network in this country. Here is what international organisations are saying about Australia’s broadband performance. The World Economic Forum ranks Australia 25th in the world for available internet bandwidth and Australia’s networked readiness at 15th in the world and falling. The OECD ranks Australia 17th out of 30 surveyed countries for the take-up of the ‘fraudband’ known as 256 kilobits per second entry-level broadband.

Despite growth off a low base, Australia’s relative position did not change in the previous two years. In fact, despite Senator Coonan taking a dorothy dixer from her own team to try to champion the state of Australia’s broadband infrastructure, ACCC figures released recently on the pace of Australian broadband take-up show that Australia’s broadband growth rate fell in every quarter of 2006. That is right: fell. Our growth rate is falling. Australia’s broadband growth rate in September 2006 was the slowest since 2002. But it is not just the Labor Party talking about this. Travel anywhere in the country. I have travelled to Bacchus Marsh, a new housing estate. Broadband is a critical piece of infrastructure for the survival of home businesses and small businesses in a modern economy. They could not get access to real, genuine broadband. This is a disgrace in a modern economy like Australia. I have travelled to Hasluck in the outer suburbs of Perth and to the outer suburbs of Melbourne. I have been to Tweed Heads. I have been to Cairns and North Queensland.