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

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Does the minister recall the Prime Minister’s statement just last month:

One of the most important responsibilities of the Commonwealth government is to provide infrastructure for future growth and development of our nation.

Is the minister aware that there are currently two proposals for the rollout of a multibillion-dollar fibre-to-the-node broadband network that have been stalled for more than 18 months due to inappropriate regulatory structures? Why has the government failed to end this farce? Haven’t you failed in your responsibility to ensure the delivery of this important broadband infrastructure for the future growth of our nation?

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There seems to be a bit of a problem with the sound. I hope senators will take note of the problem and make the according adjustment. I call Senator Coonan.

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

Thank you to Senator Conroy for the question. What the government has done in relation to broadband is ensure that in underserved areas there is appropriate investment and incentive to ensure that there is a rollout to areas that otherwise would simply not receive it. Building on the government’s $2 billion investment to date, which has seen over a million small businesses and premises connected to broadband, we have announced what I do not think any other government in the world has yet done. That is to have a broadband guarantee that will ensure that every Australian, irrespective of where they live, will be entitled to—

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

Senator Conroy interjecting—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, come to order!

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

access fast internet and broadband services that they need and that they want. The investment that the market undertakes in metropolitan areas is something that is incentivised by competition and by the current regulatory environment. It provides an arrangement that will enable anticipatory exemptions to be made for any company at all that wishes to invest in a high-speed network. The regulatory environment that is currently provided is sufficiently flexible to deal with the issues that have been brought to government both by Telstra and by the current G9 proposals.

What is very interesting is that even Senator Conroy, in his statement today, was totally clueless as to what arrangements he might make for adjusting any of the regulatory arrangements that currently apply under the Trade Practices Act to the telecommunications sector. His best offer was, ‘Oh well, we will ask people who want to invest in this to come to us and tell us what regulatory changes they would like.’ That is the best that Senator Conroy could do after nearly three years in the portfolio. He had not a clue as to what he would do with potential overbills or with potential inefficient investments; and for anyone who wants to come and build one of these proposals, all they have to do is to tell Senator Conroy what they would like to do and somehow or other he is going to make regulatory adjustments that will adjudicate on the competing claims that they all have.

What is very important is that this government have invested in competition because we understand that the market is best placed to make the investments that are risky and that will deliver the services in metropolitan areas. Not only is the government’s job to ensure that that framework is robust and flexible and will enable those who invest in new infrastructure to get a proper and sensible return for that investment but we as a government are obliged to ensure that those who live in underserved areas who otherwise would not get services will be able to do so. That is why the government has invested over $2 billion in ensuring that these subsidised services and a new open access network will be able to be built to service rural and regional Australia. But it is at serious risk. If the Labor Party get hold of the telecommunications fund, the communications fund, and if they raid that, there will be nothing for these very important services in rural and regional Australia. And if they get hold of the Future Fund, the country will be compromised and future generations will suffer from Labor’s spendthrift ways.

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Why is the Howard government holding back billions of dollars worth of investment in the infrastructure of the future while Australia is left with the infrastructure of the past, condemning millions of Australians to 256 kilobits per second—this government’s preferred speed for broadband? When will you commit to making the changes in attitude and leadership required to catch up with the rest of the world in this important area of infrastructure and try to match Labor’s 12 megabit proposal?

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

Senator Conroy really needs to do his homework. Currently Australia has the second fastest take-up rate in the OECD of broadband. Close to 90 per cent of Australian households and small businesses can already access fast multimegabit broadband speeds of between two megabits per second and eight megabits per second. Senator Conroy really needs to understand that this is an increasing story of broadband. It is a story of ever-increasing bandwidth, and this government will continue to pursue the policies which increase both broadband access and speeds.