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

I am happy to reiterate exactly what I said yesterday. What I said yesterday was that, because of policy failings that stretch back over two governments over 20 years, Telstra was allowed to become just about the most vertically integrated telco in the world. It is in all platforms. Many jurisdictions restrict the telco incumbent from being in all of the markets. You are allowed to be in the mobile market; you are allowed to be in the fixed line market. There are many restrictions around the world. As we move out of the copper era into the fibre future, the government have decided that we need to have a greater degree of competition. We want to redress the mistakes made by the two former governments, so we have said that we will restrict Telstra from moving into the next generation of spectrum—which will be auctioned in a few years—to ensure that it cannot dominate every single platform.

What we have seen is that Australians are suffering from the highest prices in the world for broadband, virtually, and the slowest speeds, virtually. That is not acceptable because it is selling out our children, our small businesses, our educational future, our health future and our energy efficiency future. It is selling out all of those sectors, not to mention the potential in growth in aged care services online. All of those sectors are waiting to step into the fibre future. They are waiting for the capacity to deliver incredibly exciting new applications that are available overseas. (Time expired)