Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to make some analyses of the government’s so-called broadband proposals for North Queensland and the implications for our economy and our ability to participate in the broader community. Access to broadband is increasingly being raised with my office as an issue of concern for North Queensland residents. Why? Because people are increasingly coming to understand that broadband is the new way to do business—it is the new way that we connect with society. For people in more remote places, it is increasingly becoming apparent that we currently have a second-rate service. Increasingly, my office is receiving complaints about the current second-rate service, the inability to connect to the internet and the poor speed of the service that we currently have.

North Queenslanders know that at present we receive a substandard service. The children at the Seventh-day Adventist school in the inner-city suburb of Westcourt in Cairns know that they still cannot connect their computers to the internet. For over three years we have worked hard but to no avail to try to get this school connected, but the service that is being provided is now substandard. Unfortunately they are joined in waiting for a service by the children from Caravonica State School, a school on the northern highway out of Cairns. We are not talking about remote or isolated schools in this circumstance; we are talking about schools in the main part of the city of Cairns which currently cannot receive an adequate internet service. The schools in more remote places have another set of problems again.

Unfortunately, the announcement by Senator Coonan yesterday confirms that our children in North Queensland will continue to have a substandard, second-rate service compared with that for their city cousins. We know that the technology being offered to rural and remote Australia will not equate to what people will be able to access in capital cities. In fact, Senator Coonan said so herself; she said it would be ‘comparable’. We know that the wireless proposal is a second-class, substandard service compared to that which could be accessed in a capital city in Australia. Even the proponents, Optus-Elders, have said that speeds will be ‘up to’ 12 megabits. Senator Lundy has quite rightly put to the chamber that the Optus-Elders proposal will probably run at a speed of around six megabits. Twelve megabits may be the best that can be achieved, but the reality is that we know it will be highly unlikely.

We also know that the service will be compromised by distance, traffic on the system, weather conditions and terrain. Welcome to North Queensland! In North Queensland we know that under the Howard government proposal we can expect to have significant outages during the long wet season we experience. In North Queensland we know that there will be significant outages for people living in more remote places, where the signal will have to travel longer distances. We also know that for those who live in the area west of Cairns, the Atherton Tablelands, the black spot problems they currently experience with their mobile phones because of the terrain will be once again exacerbated.

But we do not have to take my word for it. I was in touch today with a leader in the IT sector particularly interested in IT in health and ageing. He compared Labor’s previously announced policy and the announcement yesterday by the government. He described the government’s plan as a short-term quick fix. He said that it was clearly for political reasons, to get them past the election, and not a long-term solution. Interestingly, he described Labor’s plan as far more robust and sustainable. He described wireless service as high risk. As we know, one area of opportunity for rural and remote communities is e-health, where patients can be assisted by physicians located, usually, in major cities. He painted a fairly scary picture. He said, ‘Imagine— (Time expired)