John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last time I looked, Minister, the UK was a considerably smaller country than Australia. This is my exact point. I am not playing politics; I am being deadly serious. I saw what happened with the analog phone system when rural and regional areas were done over big time. If there had not been a change of government, those areas would still have been on a GSM network—a network where, if you were not standing under a tower, you would not have a signal. On behalf of those people out at White Cliffs, Wilcannia and the back of Bourke that just happen to grow the nation’s food to keep us fed and alive—if they are not putting it down for trees—I am seriously asking whether you can provide a guarantee. Surely you cannot blame the global financial crisis for what we are doing regarding broadband in this system here. Can you give these people a guarantee that before those analog systems are turned off, they will have an equivalent service on their televisions?