Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Coonan. Will the minister update the Senate on plans to roll out high-speed internet to Australians in rural and regional areas? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Nash for the question and for her ongoing interest in delivering quality communications to rural and regional Australia. The government is aware that broadband can break down the barriers created by Australia’s vast land mass, revitalise regional communications and improve access to both services and information. That is why we have announced the most significant telecommunications funding package in Australia’s history, including a $1.1 billion Connect Australia funding package to enhance the rollout of infrastructure and $2 billion in the communications fund to ensure that Australians continue to enjoy new technologies into the future.

As Senator Nash is no doubt aware, the government will use the substantial funding in the package it has allocated under Connect Australia to revitalise communications in the bush. As the first step, the government has conducted an expression of interest process under Connect Australia to test the feasibility of an infrastructure based approach, and I am delighted with the substantial and quality responses that have been received from industry. More than 70 submissions have been registered. Connect Australia will provide rural and regional Australia with large-scale and sustainable broadband infrastructure for the future but, most importantly, equitable broadband services. Importantly, these projects will be developed on top of the significant infrastructure based competition already occurring in competitive metropolitan and major regional markets.

Around 80 per cent of Australian households can already access ADSL broadband services and the number is growing exponentially as carriers enable more and more exchanges with the backing of Connect Australia. All the talk today is of Telstra’s fibre to the node for capital cities but, of course, high-speed broadband platforms are already available in these areas. There is plenty of multi-megabit broadband capacity already available in the cities—at least nine service providers already offer ADSL 2 Plus broadband in capital cities and large regional centres. ADSL 2 Plus and cable broadband offer speeds many times greater than standard ADSL services. Speeds for this technology reach 12 to 18 megabits per second. Several experts estimate that around 55 per cent of Australians are already able to access very fast fixed broadband today via either ADSL 2 Plus or cable broadband. The government has of course been correct not to have relied entirely on Telstra for fast broadband because they have yet to switch on ADSL 2 Plus despite already installing this technology in many of their exchanges.

I am asked about alternative policies. Labor’s broadband plan, borrowed from Telstra, does not even pass Senator Conroy’s ‘fraudband’ test. Without Telstra’s fibre to the node rollout, Labor’s proposal is missing the $4 billion investment at the heart of the policy. The middle is simply missing. It is a doughnut policy; it is a policy doughnut. It is probably a Krispy Kreme ALP policy, but this government will continue to focus on competitive, market-driven systems with a massive government investment to ensure that rural and regional Australians’ services are adequately taken care of.