Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand today to respond to the answer from Senator Conroy regarding the roll-out of the NBN in Tasmania. Interestingly, this question was asked by Senator Bilyk and I think she might have been shocked by the answer that was provided by Senator Conroy because he confirmed on the record today in question time that the roll-out in Tasmania is receiving the lowest connection rate in all of Australia. Compared to the mainland sites where the roll-outs are occurring, and where he indicated there were sites with a 74 per cent, an 84 per cent and an 87 per cent connection rate, it is on the public record that Tasmania has a 50 per cent connection rate. So the roll-out rate in Tasmania and their progress to date must be a great disappointment.

Senator Conroy should come clean and answer the questions with respect to the roll-out in Tasmania. He refused. He continues to refuse and obfuscated in the Senate estimates last week when I asked what the cost of the roll-out has been to date. He refused. We found out—he slipped it out last night—that they have signed a $37 million contract for the roll-out of the NBN in Tasmania for the main routes and for three towns: Smithton, Midway Point and Scottsdale. But when Senator Conroy says—he has said it time and again—that he is on time and on budget, that is nonsensical; it is meaningless because he will not reveal the budget. I have asked him time and again: what is the budget for the roll-out in Tasmania? He refuses to say. Industry estimates have been given at around $500 million or $700 million, but I do not know. Nobody really knows because Senator Conroy is refusing to provide it. There is no business plan.

We do know about the take-up rates. In Senate estimates last week in answer to questions from me Senator Conroy confirmed that there were 262 active connections to the network as at the end of last month. There were 561 services to be delivered to 436 premises. If you divide, let’s say, 500 homes into the $37 million, that is $74,000 or thereabouts per home. If you put the 262 active homes into the $37 million you arrive at $140,000 per home. Of course that figure is going to go down, drastically down, but the fact is that in terms of the $43 billion roll-out we know that compared to the US the cost to the government is 100 times higher. We know that it is multiple times higher than in Singapore, Hong Kong or the UK.

They continue to proceed with this white elephant without any business plan and without any cost-benefit analysis. This is fast becoming another pink batts fiasco and it is getting worse, not better. I want to refer specifically to John Salmon from Midway Point and his communications with we, including as recently as today, where he had a problem with a battery back-up. He was told specifically that he would need a battery back-up and that if the power went down his phone would not work. He was told he needs it and he was quoted in the order of $90 over and above. Yet, yesterday I understand the NBN Co. and Senator Conroy have done a backflip and that cost will now be covered by NBN Co. Well, if that is the case, they had better contact all of those Tasmanians who have already signed up and offer to reimburse the cost of the battery back-up—for all those homes that have already paid their $90 that will have to be repaid. I ask on the record now: will the government commit to reimbursing all those people who have paid for their battery back-ups?

John Salmon first had contact I think in April, May and June this year and he has indicated that he had two dozen phone calls to get his system up and going and properly operating. He has taken the lowest rate possible—and that is fair enough; why shouldn’t he?—and the deal is with Primus. The fiasco—the hassles he undertook for and on behalf of his family—was something shocking. He can expound that more in due time.

Clearly, we do not know the future for the NBN in Tasmania. The government refuse to answer the questions. They have got to come clean. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.