Julian McGauran (Victoria, 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 inform the Senate about the broadband options available to Australian consumers today and the steps the government is taking to improve broadband availability in the future? 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 McGauran for that very pertinent question. The fact that Australia ranks in the top five OECD countries for growth in broadband take-up demonstrates the value that Australian consumers place on broadband. Australian consumers are indeed a savvy lot. That has been proven with the explosion in mobile phone take-up a number of years ago. If they can see a valid use for new technology at an attractive price then they adopt it in droves. The government does recognise the strong consumer and business demand for improved broadband. That is why we have invested more than $3 billion in Connect Australia and the Communications Fund package to ensure that Australia can become a world leader in effective broadband use.

I also currently have under development a broadband blueprint which will be a uniquely Australian approach to encouraging broadband infrastructure investment in this country. The broadband blueprint will be a national framework for the rollout of next generation infrastructure for all parts of Australia, by both governments and the private sector. The blueprint will ensure that the rollout of next generation broadband is coordinated across jurisdictions with clearly delineated roles for state, territory and local governments that meet the needs of end users. This is a far-reaching and coordinated approach which will mark Australia as a world leader in the effective use of broadband.

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

Senator Conroy interjecting—

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

It is interesting that Senator Conroy interjects. I was asked about alternative policies, and I would welcome a debate if there were credible alternative policies from the opposition in this important area. Senator Conroy’s statements last week that ADSL2 Plus technology can only achieve speeds of three megabits a second have been branded by the telecommunications industry as codswallop. Several service providers of fast broadband, such as iiNet and Internode, have pointed Senator Conroy to the true speeds that ADSL2 Plus broadband is offering Australian metropolitan consumers today.

While it is, of course, deeply embarrassing for Senator Conroy that his comments have been branded as codswallop, Senator Conroy’s incompetence has also been noticed by his own side. A brief look across the ALP website clearly shows that the ALP’s Mr Lindsay Tanner believes he is the real shadow minister for communications. Not only are Mr Tanner’s last five media releases all communications related, they were all issued well before anything dribbled out from Senator Conroy’s office.

On payphones Mr Tanner was frontman. On the media reform package the comment came from Mr Tanner. On the issue of internet filtering, once again Senator Conroy was missing in action. It is not a good look for Senator Conroy to have Mr Tanner second-guessing him, calling the shots and relegating him to being the second-string opposition spokesman on communication.

Now, as we have seen over the last few days, while the Labor Party has taken the lazy option in communications of adopting any report and adopting any commentator’s views, this government does the heavy lifting in communications. We are getting on with the job of transforming the telecommunications sector to meet Australia’s present and emerging needs.