Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill 2019

Second Reading Speech

The Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill 2019, which I am introducing today, will, together with the Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019, improve the provision of superfast broadband in Australia.

The bills were previously passed by the House of Representatives in 2018, but had not been passed by the Senate before the 2019 election. The government is bringing them back largely as previously introduced. There are some amendments that are operational improvements. There are also some amendments to the Regional Broadband Scheme to adopt amendments moved by the opposition when the bills were previously before the parliament.

The competition and consumer bill contains three key measures.

Firstly, the bill will make carrier separation rules for superfast residential networks more effective and more flexible, giving carriers greater scope to invest in superfast networks and compete.

The changes to carrier separation rules will allow carriers, other than NBN Co, to operate fixed-line superfast networks with both wholesale and retail businesses (rather than to be wholesale only as is currently required).

Secondly, new statutory infrastructure provider (or SIP) obligations on NBN Co (and other carriers playing a comparable role) will support the ongoing delivery of superfast broadband services.

The SIP obligations will place an explicit statutory requirement on NBN Co (or other carriers playing a comparable role) to connect premises and supply wholesale superfast broadband services on reasonable request from a retail provider. The baseline speed to be supplied is 25 megabits per second download and five megabits per second upload.

NBN Co will need to take all reasonable steps to ensure that 90 per cent of premises connected to its fixed-line networks can receive broadband speeds of 50 megabits per second download and 10 Megabits per second upload. NBN Co's fixed-line networks should be able to connect at least 92 per cent of premises across Australia.

Thirdly, the Regional Broadband Scheme will establish a transparent and equitable funding mechanism to make sure NBN Co's satellite and fixed wireless services can continue to provide superfast broadband to regional Australia.

All carriers would contribute $7.10 per month per premises where a broadband service is provided over their high-speed fixed-line networks. It is intended that the charge would apply to all premises serviced by fibre to the premises, fibre to the node, fibre to the basement, fibre to the curb and hybrid fibre-coaxial networks.

The Regional Broadband Scheme charge has been designed to accommodate complex service types. For example, 'local access line' in the legislation includes customer cabling in multi-dwelling units, like apartment blocks. This ensures that a premises in apartment blocks will be covered by the charge where a cable line is also used to supply carriage services to the unit.

The deeming provision under proposed subsection 76A(4) interacts with proposed section 94, which relates to ownership of 'local access lines'. To minimise avoidance of the charge, subsection 76A(4) makes clear that customer cabling to a premises inside a multi-unit building can be considered local access lines that are part of the local access network of a carrier, even if that carrier has no legal ownership of those cables.

Once established, the Regional Broadband Scheme will provide certainty for regional Australians that their essential broadband services will be maintained and available into the future.

The government recognises that broadband technology is constantly evolving and new technologies may emerge at any time. The government is committed to reviewing the Regional Broadband Scheme on a regular basis to make sure that the finding base remains appropriate. The bill includes a requirement to conduct a review within four years of the scheme commencing.

Conclusion

The bill makes important changes to the regulatory framework to strengthen the provision of superfast broadband infrastructure across Australia. The changes put the customer experience front and centre by ensuring consumers can benefit from greater wholesale and retail competition, access superfast broadband under the statutory infrastructure provider obligation and are supported by sustainable funding arrangements for essential broadband services in regional, rural and remote Australia.

I commend the bill.

Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019

Second Reading Speech

The Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019, which I am introducing today, will, together with schedule 4 of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill 2019, establish the Regional Broadband Scheme to provide a transparent and fair funding mechanism that supports the long-term operation of NBN Co's loss-making fixed wireless and satellite networks into the future.

The two bills establish arrangements to underpin the ongoing availability of essential broadband services to all areas of Australia, particularly, rural and regional Australia. Minor changes have been made to the operation of the Regional Broadband Scheme in line with proposals tabled in the Senate by the opposition that the government announced it would support in the budget last April. These changes provide greater certainty to telecommunications carriers and further ease the burden of transition to the scheme for smaller carriers.

The Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019 would impose, from the first July after passage, a monthly charge on carriers in relation to each premises connected to their network that has an active fixed-line superfast broadband service during the month. If the bill is passed during the 2019-20 financial year, the proposed charge, which is a tax for constitutional purposes, would commence from 1 July 2020. The charge would have two components: a base component and an administrative cost component. The bill would set the initial base component amount at $7.09, which is then subject to indexation. The bill also sets the administrative cost component for the first five years. The combined component cap, comprising the base component and administrative cost component, is set at $7.10 which is also subject to indexation.

The money collected from the base component of the charge would be used to fund the losses NBN Co incurs in constructing and operating its fixed wireless and satellite networks, replacing the company's opaque internal cross subsidy from its fixed-line networks. These networks provide access to essential high speed broadband services to up to one million premises, mostly in regional and remote areas. The money collected from the administrative cost component would fund the enforcement and administration costs of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) associated with the Scheme.

The bill would require the ACCC to give advice to the minister in relation to the base and administrative cost components at least once every five years following a costing assessment—that includes industry consultation—being undertaken by the ACCC.

The administrative arrangements for the Regional Broadband Scheme, including arrangements for the annual (in arrears) assessment and collection of the charge, and associated reporting arrangements, are set out in schedule 4 to the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill 2019. The ACMA is the administrator of the Regional Broadband Scheme; the government expects that ACMA will engage with the telecommunications industry in applying the new regulatory framework.

The ACCC advises on the setting of charges; the government expects the ACCC will also engage with industry. This engagement should aim to reduce the regulatory burden in implementing the Regional Broadband Scheme (and the one-off reporting arrangement), including by publishing interpretative guidance to industry.

Once the NBN rollout is complete, NBN Co is likely to have around 95 per cent of the fixed- line broadband market, which means it will continue funding the bulk of the net costs for providing broadband services to regional Australia.

Customers on NBN Co's network will not experience price rises as the charge is already embedded in NBN Co's pricing. For the remaining five per cent, many of these networks service medium and large businesses, which will for the first time contribute to funding regional broadband. It will be up to those networks to decide whether some or all of the charge is passed on to their customers.

Once established, the effect of the Regional Broadband Scheme will be that all NBN¬comparable fixed-line networks contribute to transparent funding for regional broadband. In turn, regional Australians can have confidence that their essential broadband services will be available into the future.

I commend the bill.