Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Minchin for his question. As I have already said, the National Broadband Network is a nation-building initiative. This is a proposal that will transform this economy. It will transform and revolutionise the way that we live our lives, the way that we communicate and the way that industry does business.

Labor’s commitment to invest in a high-speed broadband network has been clear. We went to the 2007 election with a commitment to build a national broadband network. We are now following through and exceeding our election commitment. A range of studies have been carried out all over the world and have investigated the economic impact of broadband. These studies have consistently shown there are substantial benefits of high-speed broadband for the economy. Let me give you just two examples. As I have mentioned, a report by Access Economics found that a national high-speed broadband network will positively impact our economic performance by 1.1 per cent. A report by the Centre for International Economics in November 2008 said broadband could lift national economic imports by 1.4 per cent. The IMF and OECD are very positive about investment in productive economic infrastructure due to the stimulus and longer term benefit. Broadband fits this bill.

The opposition are now trying to pretend that they agree with investment in productive economic infrastructure, but they are against investment in high-speed broadband. Before the National Broadband Network announcement, Mr Turnbull supported investment in productive— (Time expired)