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

High-speed broadband is about far more than downloading movies faster, as claimed by those opposite. That is like saying that investment in ubiquitous electricity networks in the 19th century was only ever going to be for street lights. The NBN will be the enabling platform for a range of applications in the health, the education, the energy and the aged care sectors. Investment in high-speed broadband is about investing in health by promoting things like remote diagnosis and telemedicine. It is about investing in education and giving students access to multimedia learning no matter where they live. It is about investing in energy efficiency measures and encouraging the use of smart grids and smart infrastructure technology to better manage the use— (Time expired)