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

Yet again, we can see the glass jaw of those opposite. They do not want the people of Australia to hear about their broadband plan. They do not want people to know that they are going to increase broadband prices and slow the speed down. If you live in regional Australia, you get a choice at the next election. Seventy per cent of homes in regional Australia will get fibre-to-the-home and the other 30 per cent get a satellite service faster than anything you ever gave them, a fixed wireless far superior to anything else. Do you know what those opposite want to give them, out of Mr Turnbull's own mouth? They are going to give them a voucher—a voucher to stimulate demand so that all those private sector companies will come in and start providing broadband in regional Australia.

They are coming to St George, are they not Senator Joyce? When you get your voucher, all those companies are going to come to St George to provide broadband? I do not think so and neither do you. We have those opposite too embarrassed to come into this chamber and say: 'Here is our policy. Let's compare your policy, government. Let's compare them to ours'. Not one word. We had 40 minutes from them and not one word on your policy. You are too embarrassed to debate them and so you should be. Let me give you a couple of examples of communities in Bendigo. The Bendigo Health CEO, John Mulder, said: 'We will require high-speed broadband for new initiatives such as teleradiology, telestroke and remote patient monitoring.' In Geelong: 'Health is going to be practised differently in the future because of this technology. It is going to revolutionise medicine.' And you want to say no. (Time expired)