Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

The answer is pretty straightforward. Connecting more premises sooner and keeping internet bills low are key to supporting the small business sector, which is the engine room of the Australian economy. As I mentioned earlier, more than two-thirds of homes and businesses in South Australia can now connect to the NBN, and a further 64,000 premises have work underway in their streets and towns. As we know, when it comes to the NBN, the speed that counts is the speed of the rollout. That's because the whole nation only gets the full social and economic benefits of fast broadband once the entire nation has it.

As a result of the approach that this government is taking, the NBN will be completed by 2020, which is six to eight years sooner than would have been the case under our predecessors, as I often say, and at $30 billion less cost. The good news is that because it will cost less to build, people's monthly internet bills will be lower than they would be under those opposite.