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

I thank Senator Polley for her ongoing interest in this issue on behalf of all Tasmanians. On 8 April the Prime Minister, the Premier and I announced that Tasmania would be the first state to receive the National Broadband Network. This decision was based on the advice of the government’s independent panel of experts. The Australian government readily accepted that advice because of all the states and territories Tasmania has the lowest proportion of households with broadband, at just 39 per cent, compared with the Australian average of 52 per cent.