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

There has been 11 years of inaction by the Howard government and now, only months away from a federal election, they have a plan. Let me correct that. They have two plans: one for the city and one for rural and regional Australia. The government’s proposal will create a two-tiered system using fibre-optic cable in the cities and wireless in the country. It is a second-rate system for rural and regional Australia, a cobbled-together broadband plan, that only delivers high-speed fibre networks in the areas of five major capital cities, leaving students and small business operators in rural and regional areas to struggle along with an inferior wireless service. The government now have to deal with misleading gaffes, where they have tried to hoodwink the Australian people for their own political agenda.

The communications minister has said that Labor’s broadband policy was irresponsible. What Australians would like to know is: how can improving every Australian householder’s access to broadband speeds be irresponsible? Why is it irresponsible to invest in the pathway to our future? Why is it irresponsible to strengthen our position in the global economy? Why is it irresponsible to provide improved communication standards to Australians? Labor has steadfastly taken the initiative on broadband policy after inaction by the communications minister. While it is good to know that Labor’s plans on broadband have finally pushed the government into some action, although it is somewhat stumbling, the reality is that one cannot turn vinegar into wine. The government’s catch-up broadband policy is simply a poor second to Labor’s solid initiative on this issue.

Mr Howard says that working families have never been better off. Well, the government’s handling of broadband reflects a government that has lost touch and become arrogant. The fact is that the performance and reliability of wireless suffers because of the distance issues, bad weather, geography and congestion problems with the number of people using the service at any one time. A letter from a Queenslander, which appears in today’s Australian newspaper, says:

Living in regional Queensland, our only broadband option was a ... wireless internet service provider who placed an antenna on our roof which picked up a signal from a receiver tower ... When it rained, no internet, or occasional interrupted services, sometimes for days if there was a prolonged wet period. The ISP technical support admitted to us that “signals can’t travel through water”. The service is great in prolonged drought periods, but unreliable and often non-existent in downpours. As our business is internet-dependent, we required constant service. So we cancelled and are now back to dial-up speed ...

The regional wireless solution is a second-rate, unreliable service. That’s John Howard’s future broadband vision. Maybe he should advise the bush to stop praying for rain.

This is the 18th time the government has claimed it is going to fix Australia’s broadband problems, and now, in the government’s poll-induced terror, they have come up with a second-rate plan for rural and regional Australia. As part of it, we had the minister stating on Monday, as Senator Conroy pointed out, that her government, under wireless network, will deliver up to 12 megabits per second for 99 per cent of Australia. Then the minister changed her tune. On Tuesday she said that it was a minimum of 12 megabits per second, and then later on the same day she said that it was a minimum of— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.