Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator Bilyk—your areas. It also includes St Helens and Triabunna on the east coast of Tasmania. The third stage includes the remainder of Tasmania. It is major cities like Burnie, Devonport, Launceston and Hobart. I have been around speaking to the business communities along with my local member, Geoff Lyons, who also is very committed to this initiative and this investment in infrastructure. We have been talking to people in the local government, business and health. They can see the benefits of the national broadband rollout, but those opposite would rather play politics, be obstructive, not see the future and keep people back. We on this side of the chamber will not allow that to happen.

When we look at what happened at the Liberal state conference in Launceston just recently, we had Mr Abbott going along to the Liberal conference, trying to assure the Tasmanian community, ‘That’s all right; whatever’s rolled out now in Tasmania with the NBN we’ll leave there.’ He said during the election campaign that he was no tech-head, but his ignorance astounds me. This is a national rollout. This is a national broadband. We are not talking about pigeon carriers or playing on drums; we are talking about modern, 21st-century technology. You cannot have a national broadband network if you do not allow Tasmania to plug into the rest of the country. Of course you are then not going to be competitive. But once again those opposite want to keep Tasmania in the dark. The Tasmanian community have said no to that. They have said no repeatedly. If they have not got the message yet, I suggest those opposite who are shaking their heads have a talk to Senator Barnett. He will be able to reassure them about what the Tasmanian community thinks.

I can tell you the packages in Tasmania are far more competitive than they have ever been. For instance, Internode are offering 25 megabits per second for $29.95 per month and a 100-megabits-per-second service for $49.95. We know that the National Broadband Network will be rolled out in other states and we know that people are embracing it, whether they are in Armidale, Townsville, Brunswick or any other rural or regional areas of New South Wales, Queensland, WA or Victoria. The penny has just not dropped with the opposition. The National Broadband Network is happening, it is popular and it is what Australian businesses, health services and individuals want. The coalition’s opposition to this, especially in the eyes of most Australians, is about as irrelevant as they are becoming in opposition. I recently said in the Senate:

The agreement between the NBN Co. and Telstra further enhances the viability of the project. There are huge benefits. The use of the Telstra infrastructure will eliminate the possibility of duplication of infrastructure, with significantly less disruptive trenching and laying of conduits. The progressive migration of customers from Telstra copper and pay TV cable networks to the new wholesale-only fibre network to be built and operated by the NBN Co. will be an orderly transition for Telstra customers. There will be significant benefits to taxpayers: savings and faster construction and take-up rates.

In the long-term, full structural separation will be achieved when Telstra migrates its customers to the wholesale-only NBN and decommissions its copper network. In the future, Telstra and other retail services will have access to a single, wholesale-only network offering access on open and equivalent terms as enshrined in the legislation and overseen by the ACCC. The NBN will create and maintain thousands of jobs as well as creating opportunities for local contractors.

The coalition’s latest obsession with obstructing this development revolves around their claim that the government would not release the NBN Co.’s business plan. Therefore they claimed that debate on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009 could not occur. The link was nonsense. I am not going to reiterate what Senator Carol Brown so eloquently put on the public record, but those opposite, in their typical fashion since they have been in opposition, have no foresight. That is why, after 12 years and what—19 or 20 plans, Senator Bilyk?