Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on the motion to take note of answers by the Minister for Communications, Senator Fifield, on the government's latest broadband backflip. This one is remarkable. The government's decision to complete the NBN rollout through a $19.5 billion government loan is a complete backflip on everything it has been saying for the past three years. It shows that Mr Turnbull's second rate copper-reliant broadband network could be uncommercial and unviable. I want the government to succeed on the NBN. The people of Australia need the government to succeed on the NBN. But every backflip comes with a risk that a previous position could be next up for a change of heart. With every backflip there is a risk that there is information the government and NBN are hiding—that the backflip is only ever part of the story.

A message that we have been delivering consistently for years is that the Australian people deserve, and the Australian people need, fibre-to-the-premises broadband. We have been saying do it once, do it right, do it with fibre. This Prime Minister has not listened, and now he and his minister are contradicting each other on this latest development. On one hand we have Minister Fifield promising that there is a cap on the government's equity contribution to the NBN of $29.5 billion but there is not a cap on the government's total contribution; on the other hand, we have the Prime Minister who on his website states that there will only be public funding of $29½ billion, which of course has blown out now, with this extra $19½ billion from the taxpayer. The latest development demonstrates that the Prime Minister and Minister Fifield have lost control of the NBN project.

In my home state of Tasmania, I have been working with the communities on the west coast, in Queenstown, Zeehan and Rosebery, to secure at least the second-rate fibre-to-the-node service. We made the case that the satellite service was inappropriate and pressured the minister, the Prime Minister and the former member for Braddon to acknowledge the need for fibre broadband to the west coast and to match Labor's commitments to these communities. But, of course, months after the election there is confusion for who is responsible for what and frustration with yet further delays.

The west coast has long been the main exporter earner for the Tasmanian economy, bringing millions of dollars to the state through mining, forestry and tourism. However, a reliance on resource based industries presents serious risks in the future, and the region really needs to build other industries. That is why it is critical for governments at the federal, state and local level to work together. The west coast developed a west coast community plan for the next 10 years. They did that in consultation with the entire community. The section on the economy identifies the need to improve access to broadband and wireless technologies to support a sustainable, dynamic and resilient business model. Broadband is also important to the region for health outcomes and education, allowing people to receive important and sometimes life-saving emergency treatment and to gain an education without having to leave the region. That is really important for the west coast, because sometimes during the winter it gets snowed in and it is inaccessible, and people need to be able to access this information to get to school for their education, and businesses need it, and they need a proper program.

Labor is focused on working with the communities on the west coast to improve their communications services. We need the Turnbull Liberal government to set a clear path for the NBN, to stop all the uncertainty and to stop the regular backflips, because with every backflip comes a risk that the previous position, such as rolling out fibre to the west coast, could be up for the next change of heart. With every backflip there is a risk that there is information the government and NBN are hiding.

So I urge the Prime Minister and the minister to come clean on the government's financial support to NBN. Come clean on exactly what this means for the project in the future. I urge the Prime Minister and the minister and NBN to work with the Tasmanian government and the West Coast Council to lock in broadband rollout for the west coast, to meet their election commitments for the people of Queenstown, Zeehan and Rosebery. Stop hiding behind half-truths and clarify your exact position on the finance of the project so that those people can get on with their lives, get on with getting a good education and get on with attracting new businesses to the area so that they can become self-supporting and long-term sustainable into the future. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.