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 how the government is supporting investment in high-speed broadband? 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 the question and for his ongoing interest in telecommunications services—in particular, fast broadband. I can inform the Senate that tomorrow I will have the pleasure of hosting the third Australia-Korea-New Zealand Broadband Summit in Adelaide to be attended by the ministers for communications from all three participating countries. The summit will be an opportunity for all three governments and their technology experts to share their experience in facilitating access to cutting-edge technology for the benefit of all consumers.

We all know that real broadband is vital to Australia’s future because it underpins future economic and productivity gains, enables us to access both health and education services wherever we live, and transforms our entertainment choices. Demand for broadband services in Australia has risen at an astonishing pace. Ninety per cent of internet users can now access multimegabit broadband in Australia. We have seen today the release of an objective report from CEDA on broadband—that is the Committee for Economic Development of Australia—which interestingly concluded that there is no broadband crisis in Australia, agreed to the government’s view that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and acknowledged that the federal government’s broadband policy is the right approach for Australia. The report also widely praised the Australian government’s $878 million Broadband Connect program. The report stated.

The good thing about this policy, Broadband Connect, is that it targets new connections which have the biggest bang for the efficiency buck ... And finally, it encourages local technological solutions for local conditions.

This is a very important part: local technological solutions for local conditions. It is one thing, I have to say, that the Labor Party does not seem to understand. Here in this country we will probably always need a mix of broadband technologies, a variety of broadband providers, and a diversity of broadband services to meet the needs of scattered populations and vast distances and of course difficult terrain.

Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How far behind did you leave this country? Where are your standards?

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

I hear Senator Lundy in the background there. Several years ago she recommended that taxpayers spend $5 billion on a national roll-out of dial-up internet. If we had followed her lead, not only would this have done the taxpayers’ dough but consumers would have to put up with slow dial-up internet probably for the foreseeable future. Labor’s current idea, I have to say, is no better. Labor has tied itself to one technology and one provider. It ignores the market and the needs of people who are too geographically isolated to use a fixed line solution. We should certainly have a national plan—and that is what we have—but not one based on a single network. As anyone with a passing interest in communications knows, technology changes so quickly that we need broadband infrastructure that is scalable to meet the demands for ever-increasing bandwidth. By now I think Labor should know better. Once again, while Labor fumbles the basics, this government gets on with the job.