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

I am not sure what bows you can draw from an entirely different scheme based in the UK to the one here in Australia. I will reiterate that, notwithstanding that those opposite like to claim on the one hand that it is a dangerous, evil monopoly, on the other hand they keep claiming that we do not need it because wireless is taking over the world. The mutually inconsistent arguments being put by those opposite continue to be the basis of the question being put forward by the good senator.

What we are seeing here in Australia is an agreement that has been reached to close down the copper network and replace it and upgrade it with the technology that will allow us to move into the 21st century with confidence so that we are able to take advantage of all the new education applications, the new health applications, the new sustainability smart grid style applications, the new aged care applications and the new veterans care applications—all of those are the reason that the National Broadband Network needs to be built. While those opposite, particularly some down in the far corner, used to believe in equality of access, and they used to believe in uniform pricing for the city and the bush, this government is committed to delivering. It is committed to delivering to all Australians massively improved broadband performance. The wireless and satellite networks will be 20 times better than what most Australians use today. The fibre optic network component will be at least 100 times faster and, if someone wanted a whole gig, it will be a thousand times faster than what many Australians have today. (Time expired)