Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I have been waiting with eager anticipation for Senator Bilyk, Senator Polley, Senator Sherry or another Tasmanian senator to answer the question I have asked them many times before: how much are you charging Tasmanians for use of the NBN, a $100 million construction, in Tasmania? Nobody will answer me. I proffer the answer: nothing. Tasmanians are getting the NBN service for free, for absolutely nothing. With a $43 billion spend, the government is giving the service away for free. How can you possibly get a return on your money when you are not charging? In spite of the fact that they are getting it for free, only about 50 per cent of Tasmanians have so far taken up the offer. Yet the Tasmanian senators will not talk about this at all.

Senator Bilyk suggested to us that, through the NBN, a student in Tasmania would be far better off sitting at home watching this. Quite frankly, Senator Bilyk, they can do that at the moment if they want to, and they could do so long before the NBN came along. But not too many students could afford the $3,000 to $7,000 necessary to connect to it if they were being charged. Senator Bilyk spoke a lot about e-health. We all agree. As Senator Brandis mentioned, we think it is a great idea. Mind you, you can get it now if you are prepared to pay for it. But people are not prepared to pay for it. Evidence given to the select committee quite rightly said that only about 70 to 80 per cent of Australians ever use a computer. Twenty to 30 per cent of Australians are never going to use the NBN, but they are going to pay for it—it is their $43 billion.

Senator Bilyk also spoke about remote communities. We all know the farce of remote communities. Senator Conroy is paying Telstra $11 billion to shut down the copper network. Then, having given them $11 billion for that, he is going to give them more money to keep the copper network going for the seven per cent of Australians who will not get the fibre to the home promised by the Labor Party. What a farce. Senator Conroy is completely out of his depth, as I have said. I do not want to embarrass Senator Lundy—she is here—but she should have been the communications minister. She understands it and she would not have got the government and the Australian nation into the mess that they are currently in.

I remind any listeners that, had the coalition won the 2007 election, fast broadband would be up and operating throughout Australia today. We would not have had to wait for eight years for this service to come out. Senator Bilyk asked: what did the Howard government do? I will tell you, Senator Bilyk: we actually signed a contract with the OPEL consortium to construct a fast broadband service across the nation at a moderate price using a mixture of technologies: wireless, copper, fibre and HFC. Senator Conroy is locking us into a technology which is state of the art now but which, by the time this NBN is completed, will probably be old hat. Do not ask me what will replace it; I do not know. But nobody knew 30 years ago that we would be moving into mobile phones. That is how rapidly technology is changing. Not only did the coalition have a plan but we implemented it. We signed a contract—which the Labor government came in and broke as its first decision.

If the NBN is as good as Senator Bilyk claims it is and Senator Polley is going to tell us it is, can they please tell me why they would not get an authoritative source like the Productivity Commission to do a cost-benefit analysis? If you did, all your arguments would be won. You would not have to rely on Senator Conroy—who clearly has no idea of telecommunications technology—to be your standard-bearer. The Productivity Commission could come out and say, ‘This is wonderful; the benefits to the nation’—be they in communications or elsewhere—‘far outweigh the $43 billion cost.’ It is a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you do that? The Gillard government has done everything possible to keep the facts from the Australian people. This atrocious ruse of saying, ‘We’re going to release it in a little while,’ clearly shows that the Labor Party and their mates in the Greens are not interested in transparency. If they were, they would have released it yesterday so that the parliament, the place where these things should be debated, could have a look at it, debate it and put Senator Conroy to his proof. All the rhetoric of the Greens on accountability and openness comes to nil when they support the Labor Party in having that information hidden away.

I see Senator Polley reading her notes and getting the lectern ready, so I assume that she is going to speak in this debate after me. Senator Polley is from Tasmania. Here is the opportunity I have been waiting for. I have asked Senator Conroy; I cannot get an answer. Senator Polley, tell me: how much is the NBN selling its fibre-to-the-home—or even -to-the-node—services to Tasmanians? I will challenge you. I will say the answer is nil. I will say that the Labor government is giving it away. So uncertain are they that anyone would take it up at the massive cost likely to be involved that they are giving it away. Please, Senator Polley, when you get up after me tell me that I am wrong. Also tell me I am wrong when I allege—with evidence given by Mr Quigley—that not only will the government give away the service for free but that they will pay the people the $300 or thereabouts to install the connection box at their homes. That does not mean to say people will use it.

The questions go on and on, and in the committee stage of debate on the bill currently before the parliament—I give Senator Conroy notice—I will be asking questions. So, please come prepared. In the committee stage Senator Conroy will not be able to obfuscate like he does at question time. I am asking him: please come along with the answers, because we know if you give genuine honest answers the Australian public will see that this whole NBN proposal is a farce. Great! Everybody wants high-quality, high-speed broadband, but we do not want to pay $43 billion for it. That is $43 billion of wasted taxpayer money.