Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Does the minister recall her commitment on the John Laws program on 8 February that she would not spend taxpayers’ money to duplicate an existing broadband service? Didn’t the minister promise that she would only provide a service where one was not otherwise available? Is the minister aware that coverage maps of her new network and the existing Telstra wireless network clearly show that the new network duplicates the existing network? Why is the minister spending up to $1 billion to duplicate an existing service? Isn’t that a clear breach of the minister’s promise in February?