Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do not know what those opposite do not understand about this. Unlike you, we have one plan to deliver a nationwide broadband network to 98 per cent of Australia. What is so difficult? Unlike you, we have one plan, not 18 failed plans. We have one comprehensive, thoughtful plan. Some aspects of that plan should seem quite familiar to you, because they were presented to your government and you failed to make a decision. You could not make a decision. Out of 18 failed plans, not one bit was implemented, not one comprehensive decision was made and you wonder why Australia is in the mess that it is in.

We lag behind when it comes to broadband access. It is an international disgrace. When people visit this country they do not understand why connection speeds are so slow, why access is so restricted and why it costs so much. We are way behind the eight ball on each of those three conditions and that happened on your watch. It happened absolutely on your watch. Since this government was elected on 24 November, we have worked to implement our plan. On 11 April we released the request for tender. You want to discuss cost; you want to discuss all sorts of things. I do not know of any commercial reality where we talk about how much something is going to cost before the contract has been signed and before the decision has been taken. Maybe you live in a different reality when it comes to those issues. I do not know.

We have put a document out there. We are appealing for as wide an interest as we possibly can, because this is a very important piece of infrastructure. This will be one of the most important pieces of infrastructure delivered to the Australian economy for quite some time. Not only will it move the Australian economy into the modern age, not only will it move our education services into the modern age, not only will it mean that 98 per cent of our population can communicate with one another using digital equipment; it will actually increase productivity and will allow more people to work in varied ways and re-enter or enter the workforce. What is wrong with that? All you can do is knock. You had 11½ long years, more than one plan per year, and you did nothing. In 11½ years you had 18 plans. That is not a legacy that you should be proud of. We have had six months and have one plan, and we are working very hard on delivering that one visionary plan to 98 per cent of the population. You cannot have it both ways. You either get with the program, you get with the forward vision and you work with us and move forward or you accept the legacy and the mess that you left.

You are not prepared to discuss what you did for 11½ long years. All you want to do is come in here and pick holes in a process. That is all you ever want to do these days. It is what has been happening with the budget bills. It is what has happened with almost every piece of legislation in the last few weeks. We do not look back at the 11½ years that got Australia to this point; instead, what you do is you say: ‘That’s all well and good. We’re not going to talk about our contribution to the mess that broadband access is in or the mess that other issues are in.’ You created a number of the issues that we have to legislate to address in this fortnight. But we have one visionary plan, one plan that the government is going to work with the private sector to deliver, so 98 per cent of Australians can access modern, high-speed broadband. That is a plan that we should all be proud of. I know my community, Western Australia, is proud of it.

Under your old regime, parts of the Western Australian wheat belt could not access anything. This plan will move our entire economy and our entire nation into the future. It will allow kids in the bush to access modern education and the most recent information and to have the same standard of teaching and learning as those in the city have. This system will allow for more-flexible working conditions, for women to re-enter the workforce, for people to work from home and for people to be more productive and work around the clock to marry up their work ambitions with their family responsibilities. This plan is actually going to deliver for everyone. (Time expired)