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

I rise to make a few comments about the government’s broadband plan, Australia Connected—

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, hear!

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

thank you, Senator Mason—and also a few comments around Labor’s broadband proposal for this nation. It was great for people, particularly in rural and regional Australia, to see the funding announcement of $958 million to go towards providing fast broadband out into our regions. We are going to see a mix of fibre, ADSL2+, WiMAX and satellite to ensure that we have coverage for 100 per cent of the landmass around this nation.

As I have travelled around the state and the country people have been saying for quite some time that, quite simply, they want faster broadband. What I can tell you tonight is that, because of this government, they are going to get it. This government has a plan to take this nation forward in terms of broadband. We have listened and we have learnt from what has happened overseas, and we are going to put that to good use to ensure that every single person around this nation has access to quality broadband.

What I would really like to comment on tonight is the plan that Labor have for broadband in this nation. Quite frankly, it is not broadband; it is ‘fraudband’. What we are seeing under their proposal is broadband confined to the cities and the major regional centres. They would have us believe that they have some grand plan to roll this out right around the nation. But let me tell you that they do not, because you do not have to scratch the surface very much to see that what they are proposing will not be able to be delivered into rural and regional communities—and I am an unashamed supporter of rural and regional communities. The cities are going to get broadband because the private companies are going to do it anyway. What we should be doing in this place is supporting the people who need our help—those in rural and regional communities. That is exactly what this government has done with the Australia Connected broadband proposal.

Let us have a bit of a look at what Labor are proposing to do. They are talking about $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ money going towards their fibre-to-the-node proposal. They are going to raid $2.7 billion of that out of the Future Fund that we have set up because of this government’s sound economic management. We have finally paid off all of Labor’s debt and we have some money to put into the Future Fund, but, oh no, Labor want to rip $2.7 billion out of that to put towards this network. But it gets even better. They want to steal the $2 billion out of the Communications Fund, pushed by the Nationals and set up to ensure regional telecommunications services in the future. Labor want to take that $2 billion out of the Communications Fund and put it into the cities. I might not be the brightest person in the world, but to me that is stealing from rural and regional communities—and that is not on. That fund was set up specifically to look after rural and regional people, and that is what it should be doing. This $4.7 billion that is going towards Labor’s fibre-to-the-node network is only going to reach the major cities and the major regional centres. So there is absolutely nothing for those people out in the rural and regional communities who need it most.

At a recent Senate estimates hearing I asked Mr Bryant, who is the general manager of the broadband infrastructure branch of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts:

If we look at regional townships, how far out of what we would call the town itself would you find nodes?

Bearing in mind that the plan from Labor is fibre to the node. He said:

The actual concept of fibre to the node is probably not that relevant to smaller regional townships.

He went on to say:

If you think about the structure of most smaller regional towns and cities, at 1.5 kilometres out from the exchange you would be hard pressed in a town of, say, 5,000 people to find sufficient density of housing to warrant doing that.

When you look even at just local government areas, those sized areas that Labor’s proposal would not get to, even in New South Wales, would be LGAs such as Balranald, Bogan, Bombala, Boorowa, Bourke, Brewarrina, Carrathool, Central Darling, Conargo, Coolamon, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Gloucester, Gundagai, Guyra, Harden, Hay, Jerilderie, Lockhart, Murrumbidgee, Tumbarumba, Urana, Walcha, Warren and Weddin. And they are talking about providing broadband to the nation! And that is just scratching the surface.

Senator Conroy goes on about his grand plan about fibre to the node. He obviously has not been out in the rural areas lately—not surprisingly; he is probably a little bit trapped in Melbourne. The last I looked around in the central west of New South Wales, where I live, there were no nodes. We will have to start calling Senator Conroy ‘No Nodes Noddy’ because there are no nodes out there and his plan is not going to work. It is a furphy; it is ‘fraudband’. I am not sure whether he is just deluded or he genuinely believes that fibre to the node will work out in the regions. I am not sure which is worse, because under Labor both rural and regional communities are going to miss out.

I think perhaps it is time that somebody started asking Senator Conroy and Mr Rudd what they plan to do about those rural and regional towns, because we have not heard a peep—not one squeak. All we have heard so far, and it is pretty silly when you look at it, is $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ money going to the cities and the large regional centres. As I said, it is pretty silly really when you look at the fact that private enterprise is going to roll out faster broadband in the cities anyway. You do not have to be too bright to figure out that spending nearly $5 billion of taxpayers’ money on something that is going to be delivered by private enterprise anyway is not the smartest thing to do.

Senator Conroy needs to have another look and maybe come up with another sort of plan for how he is going to get broadband out in this nation, because it is not going to work. It is not fair on those people in rural and regional communities, who deserve faster broadband and who are going to get it under this government, for the opposition to have some furphy of a plan, a ‘fraudband’ plan, when in government they would not deliver broadband to those people. It is simple and as plain as the nose on your face that that is what would happen. So I challenge those in this building and those around to ask Labor what they would do for that remaining two per cent. That remaining two per cent does not sound very much, but when you look at a map you see it is a big chunk of Australia. That big chunk of Australia is rural and regional Australia. Those people deserve nothing less than fast broadband, and that is exactly what we are going to give them under our plan.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It’s taken a while.

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

Out there in the regions there is going to be real broadband access. I will take the interjection from the other side that it has taken a while. It has taken a while because after the Nationals secured this money we wanted to get it right. If you try to come up with a quick, cobbled-together planned like Labor do, you come up with a plan that does not work—one that has holes in it. Once you scratch the surface and go a little deeper, you realise that there is no substance for rural and regional communities in Labor’s plan. There is no substance because they are going to rip out taxpayers’ money and put it into the cities. Show me the substance there. There is no substance in this plan as there is no substance in a whole stack of Labor policies. This is indicative of how they approach things. They do not substantiate the glib, throwaway lines they put out into the community. They do not back up what they say they are going to do. It is about time, not only with broadband but with a whole range of Labor policies, that people scratched a little deeper to see exactly what the substance is and what the plan is, because when you have a look there is no substance, no experience and no way forward with their policies.

People do not care about technology. They get sick of hearing what is going to be delivered and how it is going to be delivered. They just want faster broadband. So I am delighted to see, with the announcement of the government’s policy, that we are going to give them that. Not one per cent of the country, not 10 per cent of the country, not the 70 per cent of the country which fibre to the node would be lucky to reach, but 100 per cent of people around this nation are going to get faster broadband, and they deserve it.