Linda Kirk (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Is the minister aware that Australia is ranked just 17th for its use of broadband out of 30 countries surveyed by the OECD? Can the minister confirm that ACCC figures show that Australia’s broadband growth rate fell in every quarter of 2006? Is the minister aware that Australia’s leading media proprietors—News Ltd Chairman, Rupert Murdoch; PBL Executive Chairman, James Packer; and Fairfax CEO, David Kirk—have described Australia’s broadband infrastructure as a ‘disgrace’, ‘embarrassing’ and ‘fraudband’? Why has the Howard government allowed Australia to fall behind the rest of the world in an area of crucial importance to Australia’s future economic growth?

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

I thank Senator Kirk for the question. She is wrong on just about all fronts. Australia has over 3.9 million broadband subscribers. ABS figures from September 2006 show that a third of all Australian homes have broadband. Australia is above the OECD average when it comes to broadband take-up: Australia is ranked 17th, Germany is 18th, France is 16th, the UK is 10th and the United States is 12th. But Australia’s take-up of broadband has grown at a faster rate than any other OECD country, except Denmark, in the 12 months to June 2006. These are not my figures, Senator Kirk; they are figures that are verified by the ABS. You can assert from the rooftops that Australia lags behind, and you would be wrong. For its size, scope and relatively small population, Australia performs very well.

You have referred to some criticisms by some people about the need for fast broadband and for the government, I suppose, from Labor’s perspective, to give in to Telstra’s demands to abolish the entire telecommunications regime in Australia. I think we should be wary when it comes to those who prosecute the antiregulation case and criticise Australia when they have a clear and unambiguous commercial reason for doing so—which is, of course, what some people in the media are doing. It is very important to understand that, as is often the case, media proprietors and content providers have a commercial interest in ensuring that their online media services are utilised to the fullest and that it is provided on infrastructure that they do not have to pay for, Senator Kirk. It is important that you understand that. The more broadband speeds are available, the more downloading capacity there is for consumers to use an online content provider’s products.

Senator Kirk, what I think you and Labor should be concentrating on is what has to be the most irresponsible announcement—and I assume that Senator Kirk would not have been part of this; but Senator Kirk will have a vote in caucus, no doubt, and Senator Kirk should be voting against it—a proposal that is setting out to raid the Future Fund and to do a huge backflip on Labor’s proposal to oppose, every step along the way, the privatisation of Telstra, which has held this country back and has held telecommunications back for 10 years. Labor’s proposal now is to raid the Future Fund to spend and spend. It is the most shameful economic vandalism, and it is there simply to buy votes. Not only will Labor raid the Future Fund and jeopardise the future of Australians—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order! Senators on my left will come to order.

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

Thank you, Mr President. I was about to say that Labor’s raiding of the Future Fund is the Labor Party of old. It is the Labor Party back to pork-barrelling, back to trying to buy a few votes within a few months of an election. It is the old Labor Party that has fallen at the first fence of economic responsibility. You cannot trust Labor and you certainly cannot trust it with a bucket of money.

Linda Kirk (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Why, after 11 long years of the Howard government, do hundreds of thousands of Australians still not have access to a service that the United Nations recently described as a basic utility, like water or electricity? Minister, why won’t you accept the consensus of condemnation of your broadband performance and do something to fix the problem?

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

Thank you for the supplementary question, Senator Kirk. What Senator Kirk clearly does not understand is that Labor’s policy, even at its highest, will not reach 98 per cent of the population. The Australian population should not be duped. If Senator Kirk is worried about areas where the population cannot get broadband, Senator Kirk should support the Australian Broadband Guarantee—a policy that I announced last week—which will provide broadband to every Australian irrespective of where they live. It will fix the black spots, and it will ensure that every Australian can access the services they need and want.