Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is important to remind the chamber of Senator Xenophon’s quote from Hugh Mackay, because I utterly agree with him. If there is one thing that the Prime Minister of this country, Kevin Rudd, is determined to do it is to change that culture of broken promises. That is why we are here tonight fighting for our election commitment—the promise we made at the last election. I want to congratulate Senator Ludlam in particular. I think his observations about the outcome of the current Communications Fund—the $100 million a year—were spot on. I think his observations about the dribbling out of $100 million a year and its relative ineffectiveness at dealing with the issues that confront the bush and regional Australia were spot on. I congratulate you, Senator, because you are right.

When you hear the Nationals, you would think that they were the only people who live in rural and regional Australia. Well, I live in regional Australia. I live in a little community which only had mobile phones connected two years ago. I live in a little community of 500 where our broadband speeds are a disgrace. You put yourselves up as the martyrs of the bush, but you are not the only people in this chamber who care about these issues. It is because we care about these issues that we made a commitment at the last election for a national broadband network. We made a commitment to fund it using $2 billion plus with the $2 billion from the Communications Fund. We made that election commitment because of our determination to deliver for all Australians, but in particular for people who live in rural and regional Australia.