Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do, because I actually live in regional Australia—unlike you, I suspect. What is amazing is that this is the same party who phased out analog without any other system to replace it. You stranded regional and rural Australians with an analog phase-out without any technology replacement for it at all. When we got into government, we had to move very quickly to put in the CDMA system; otherwise the people that you are crying crocodile tears on behalf of would not have had any mobile phone service at all. So do not come in here and talk about regional and rural Australians and the Australian Labor Party. What about your proposal to phase out the Communications Fund? Who will that impact on? What group of people will be impacted by the Labor Party’s decision to phase out the Communications Fund? Again, it is regional and rural Australians.

Earlier, the shadow shadow minister, Senator Conroy, was crying crocodile tears. His nickname is ‘Captain Dial-up’. He has had two policies. The first was dial-up, but Lindsay Tanner, the real shadow minister, got onto it and tried to do something else. The second policy had Senator Conroy with his hand in the honey jar, ripping funds away from our kids and grandkids. What did he say about Labor Party costing? Senator Birmingham, you are wondering that to yourself as I speak. He does not know where the figure came from. He has no idea. I hope that gives you an answer to the question that you were just about to ask. He had no idea of what the figure was or where it came from.

Those who actually know something about this technology have a rough idea of what it will cost. Senator Conroy is talking about $4.7 billion. Industry analysts believe that it will be closer to $16 billion. So he will have one bite at the Future Fund for $4.7 billion on the basis of figures about which he says he does not know where they came from. Everyone, except Senator Conroy, believes that it is grossly underpriced at $4.7 billion. Industry says it will be closer to $16 billion. So Labor will have one bite at the Future Fund, then they will have another bite at the Future Fund and, when they start running the country back into debt again, they will have yet another bite at the Future Fund. Labor parties, both federal and state, cannot help themselves. They are poor economic managers, and the people who end up paying the price for it are the Australian community.

This program provides a balance between the requirements of metropolitan Australia and those of regional and rural Australia. The bottom line is that, for people living in capital cities, there is very strong competition and the market is capable of delivering these services with fibre. You will see players come out of the woodwork to put in tenders, which will be considered by the group that was referred to earlier. But, in regional and rural Australia, it is just patent nonsense to think that fibre will solve these problems. This program has a sensible mix of technology, and it will maximise the chance of all regional and rural Australians having high-speed broadband. The Labor Party policy cannot work. It is not funded. It cannot be delivered. Our policy achieves what regional and rural Australians want, and that is access to broadband in the future which will enable them to live, work and entertain themselves where they live. (Time expired)