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

I thank the senator for her ongoing interest in this area. This is an important question that goes to the vision of the Gillard government's strategy, which is for Australia to become one of the world's leading digital economies by 2020. The strategy itself has eight key goals that will ensure that we as a nation take full advantage of the National Broadband Network to improve health service delivery, create new educational opportunities, assist small businesses to enter new markets and take advantage of increased business oppor­tunities, reduce the imbalance between metropolitan and regional and remote Australia, and support our growing and ageing population.

Since its release the strategy has received strong support from industry and community groups. Peter Strong, the CEO of COSBOA, the Council of Small Business of Australia, said:

It is without a doubt ambitious and that ambition is needed when it comes to the digital world which is changing constantly and at times dramatically.

Jonathan Nicholas, CEO of the Inspire Foundation, which supports youth mental health services, said the government's plan 'outlines a comprehensive strategy for leveraging the NBN to drive improved health outcomes in the Australian community'. The Australian Information Industry Association chief, Mr Ian Birks, said the strategy reflected 'bold and visionary leadership by Minister Conroy and the Gillard government'. I have to say Mr Birks went on to say—and I do not think anyone in the chamber could disagree with this—that it would be nice to see an intelligent response from the opposition. He stated:

I suspect its response will be around implementation and cost. But it would be nice to see an intelligent conversation about the NBN as we go forward.

The AI Group has stated: 'We had called for government support to help businesses prepare'— (Time expired)