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

As I said earlier, this policy has been in prospect and being developed for eight months and it is fully costed. There are coverage maps for the whole of Australia and it is a policy that has been carefully developed. Under no circumstances could it be said that this policy has been developed in response to either the Labor Party or the forthcoming election. This has been in prospect since the supplementary portfolio budget statements of September 2005. How can you conflate a date back in 2005 to some urgent outcome in 2007? That is seriously overstating the case. The important thing about the so-called leaked email is that what it referred to was a series of maps that were being prepared, and those broadband coverage maps were prepared and released in their final form to all MPs on the day of the announcement. I stand by that—they were released on the day of the announcement. That is not to say that certain members may have made some sort of submission to the office; I will have to take that on notice.