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

I thank Senator Sterle for his ongoing interest in this issue. The Gillard government’s $250 million Regional Backbone Blackspots Program continues to deliver for rural and regional Australia in a way that those opposite, particularly those down in the far corner from the Nationals—the country cousins of the Liberals—were never able to deliver. This program is helping to deliver the first building blocks of the National Broadband Network on the mainland of Australia through the rollout of 6,000 kilometres of fibre backbone across regional Australia, and has already laid 4,000 kilometres of fibre.

I am delighted to update the chamber. Just a short time ago I was in Geraldton for the opening of the 449-kilometre link between Perth and Geraldton. This project has been delivered on time and on budget. The high cost of backbone infrastructure is one of the biggest hurdles to delivering affordable broadband services to families and businesses in regional Australia—a situation that was allowed to fester and grow under the former coalition government’s reign of telecommunications terror. Before the new link was built, backhaul charges were 12 times more than they are today and the service being offered had just one-third of the bandwidth capacity. The new fibre backbone will allow retailers to compete on a level playing field. This program has delivered for families and small businesses. It is delivering to thousands upon thousands of regional Australians in both Western Australia and right across Australia. Those opposite who oppose this should hang their heads. (Time expired)