Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always entertaining to listen to Senator Conroy talk about truth in advertising and in supplying the facts. It is a very strange form of entertainment. Perhaps it is better for me to listen to it than to have my children suffer nightmares after watching Senator Conroy on the TV, as they did the other day. They rang up and asked, ‘Dad, do all senators behave so badly?’ I say to the 80,000 listeners today that I am very disappointed you have heard that spray from the Labor Party. They criticise a very good initiative to roll out broadband to 99 per cent of Australia, to give access to 99 per cent of Australians to fast, efficient broadband at a cost which is a fraction of the cost of this mythological program which the Labor Party purports it will roll out.

Senator Conroy talked about how we have had a number of approaches to supplying broadband to people in this country in as efficient and cost-effective a manner as is possible. Of course we have had a number of approaches because the technology has been changing over the entire duration of this government, and it will continue to change. The Labor Party are suggesting that their answer is the only answer. It is going to cost $4.7 billion. They are going to raid the future posterity of this country, taking money from our children and taxpayers to pay for a technology that will not be delivered for probably a decade or more, if they manage to honour their promises.

The Labor Party have a history of not honouring their promises. We deliver on our commitments and they know that over there. I am really disappointed that they cannot acknowledge that we are using taxpayers’ money in an efficient manner to deliver results that are going to be far superior to anything they are offering. But that is the Labor Party way: they oppose for opposition’s sake.

I would like to put a couple of things on the record. We are aiming to reach 100 per cent of the Australian population with broadband and 99 per cent of the people with high-speed broadband. The Labor Party are claiming they will reach 98 per cent, and I give them credit for that, but they are likely to reach only 75 per cent. They are talking about 12 megabits per second; we are talking about between 12 and 50 megabits per second. We are doing it with a range of technologies to speed it up. We are talking about extending coverage as new technologies come out. This is an incremental program to ensure that we are always at the very forefront of technology. Let us have a think about this. The Labor Party are going to charge $4.7 billion to the taxpayers of Australia. That is simply not right. And they are going to do it to provide an undisclosed service to consumers. They are not prepared to talk about a commercial operation with companies making a contribution as well.

We are putting $600 million into the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program. We are allocating a subsequent $358 million to guarantee affordable and comparable prices for all Australians. And what is important is that we are starting on this immediately. When are Labor going to start? In the never-never. We do not know because Labor’s promises are all spin, all style and no substance, and they are designed to deliver in 2050, 2035 or 2020. There is no meaningful policy debate or contribution; it is all about clichés and trite attacks on the government because they are paid to be outraged. Every time we have tried to take a step forward in this country, it has been opposed by the Labor Party. They become increasingly hysterical with their shrieking. They try to alarm the general populace, the voting public, but they will not swallow it. They cannot believe the Labor Party because they have broken every single promise they ever made.

You talk about economic conservatism, yet you vote against it all. You talk about prudent fiscal management; it is simply not true. We hear it time and time again. The Australian public will not believe the Labor Party. The country cannot afford to believe the Labor Party. The Labor Party have destroyed economies in three years or less. We cannot take the risk. Look at Whitlam. Look at Keating. Look at Hawke. They destroyed the Australian economy in less than a term of government. We cannot afford to go back to Labor. The Australian public cannot afford to go back to Labor. We know that the Labor Party cannot deliver. (Time expired)