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 important policy area. The rollout of the National Broadband Network, which as we know is the largest infrastructure project in Australia’s history, is of course detailed and complex. It is not a quick fix for an election, in the method favoured by those opposite. As we know, the opposition has taken a great deal of interest in this. In the just over 430 days that Senator Minchin was the opposition spokesman, he issued 180 press releases. That is 0.4 press releases a day. And do you know what? There was not one policy initiative in sight. Nearly a press release a day, and not a policy initiative in sight.

Unlike those opposite, we have a solution that will benefit this country into the long term. We are making significant progress on the NBN initiative announced last year. The rollout in Tasmania, as Senator Polley well knows, is already well underway. The trenching and layout of the conduit for the transmission link between Cambridge and Midway Point has been completed. We are on track for the first services to be connected in Tasmania from July this year. Community meetings are being held in stage 1 communities in the lead-up to July. Significant works have also commenced on the mainland. Last year we engaged Nextgen Networks to roll out almost 6,000 kilometres of new fibre optic backbone links under the Regional Backbone Blackspots Program. (Time expired)