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

On Monday, I announced the completion of the Broken Hill link as part of the Gillard government's Regional Backbone Blackspots Program. This 1,150-kilometre fibre-optic link will give retail service providers the opportunity to offer faster and cheaper broadband to around 137,000 people along the route. Our investment in the RBBP is today allowing families in regional Australia to access broadband services that are up to 10 times faster with double the download quota for the same monthly price. It is regional Australians who continue to call for the accelerated rollout of the NBN. In fact, just this week Mr Warren Entsch from the other chamber said Cairns is in 'desperate need to secure high-speed broadband' and he was 'demanding Cairns is included in the next rollout'. (Time expired)