Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Eggleston for his strong interest in the provision of fast internet services throughout Australia, particularly in the rural and regional areas of his state. There is no doubt that equitable access to broadband infrastructure is critical for Australia’s economic prosperity. Increasingly, it is the means by which we can learn, communicate and conduct business. That is why it is so important that these services are available not just in the densely populated metropolitan areas of main cities but also to those who live in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia. In short, fast broadband is no longer an optional extra; it is critical infrastructure that should be available irrespective of where you live. That is why the government has invested in providing subsidised broadband to regional areas since 2005 and currently has provided a connection to over a million premises, including small businesses and homes.

Just last week I announced a further $162.5 million to support the Australian Broadband Guarantee that will fill in the remaining black spots in metropolitan, outer metropolitan and regional and remote Australia—in fact, wherever those black spots occur. If required, further funding will flow from investment of the government’s $2 billion infrastructure fund. The government recognises that the next stage of the broadband story in Australia for rural and regional Australia is to provide scalable and sustainable next generation investment. That is why $600 million is available to allow the roll out of a new open access network that will provide national solutions to the need to scale up as consumers’ appetite for faster broadband grows.

The need to look after the telecommunication needs of all Australians irrespective of where they live will not be met by any alternative proposal from the Labor Party. Labor has today announced yet another warmed over, reheated Beazley policy, one which stole its title from the Victorian government and its content from a dumped Telstra commitment. Labor’s proposal will entrench its legendary neglect of rural and regional Australia by abolishing—listen to this—the $2 billion communication fund earmarked to ensure that the most disadvantaged Australians can get reliable services in the future. Adding to this, Labor announced today that it is prepared to throw out its old ideological opposition to the sale of Telstra provided it can now get its hands on the money. This is textbook Labor, and a very clear signal that if elected it would trash the Future Fund and send Australia back into recession.

The announcement today is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank, and all Australians vividly remember the recession they had to have. Senator Conroy has been forced to admit that this is the same failed proposal which Labor announced two years ago, the one that no-one took seriously, that Telstra dumped and industry damned. This clearly shows that Labor cannot be trusted with the needs of rural and regional Australia. It cannot be trusted with the country’s telecommunications infrastructure and it certainly cannot be trusted with Australia’s economy.