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, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Can the minister indicate when the broadband contract with OPEL Networks will be signed? Is the BroadbandNow website correct where it says that the OPEL coverage will be independently tested in a laboratory before the government spends any money on the system? Can the minister advise whether this testing has now taken place? Given there are serious concerns about whether the OPEL network works in hilly and mountainous areas and when it is raining, can the minister also indicate whether the OPEL product testing occurred in a laboratory that contains hills and rain? Finally, can the minister guarantee that the testing was carried out using only a four-watt power source, under which the new network is restricted to operate?

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

I thank Senator Conroy for the question. What I can say in response to the question is that about four watts is how you would describe Labor’s broadband plan!

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has got a lot more ‘whats’ than ifs about it!

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

A lot of ‘whats’! Unlike the Labor Party, the Howard government knows that you simply cannot deliver a state-of-the-art, national broadband network by issuing a press release. You cannot do it that way. It does take hard work and careful planning and management. We first announced funding for this initiative back in August 2005. We commenced a rigorous competitive assessment process in September 2006 to ensure that we achieved the best outcomes for Australians. That was many months before Labor woke up that broadband was an issue and had something to say about it and issued a press release.

On 18 June the Prime Minister and I announced Australia Connected, the latest milestone in our comprehensive policy of ensuring that all Australians have access to high-quality, affordable broadband wherever they live and wherever they work. The centrepiece of Australia Connected is the roll-out of the new competitive, state-of-the-art broadband network that will extend high-speed broadband services to 99 per cent of the population and provide speeds of 12 megabits per second by mid-2009. These speeds are 20 to 40 times faster than those in use by most consumers today and will be delivered in the country at metro comparable prices.

Unlike the Labor Party, our agreement with OPEL will be signed sooner than the five years it will take for the Labor Party to deliver anything at all, because the Labor Party has said that Australians will be waiting around till 2013. This government thinks that consumers are going to need fast broadband before 2013, which is why we have developed a new, comprehensive, wholesale network—the OPEL network. It will be a network that will have the characteristics claimed for it. It will be a network that will be fully tested. Following negotiations—

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

Mr President, I rise on a point of order—that of relevance. I asked a very specific question to the minister. I appreciate she is reading her very specific brief, but I asked specifically when the contract would be signed, where it was being tested, when it was being tested and about some conditions. I would ask you to draw her back to the question.

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

The minister has over a minute left to complete her answer.

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

Thank you, Mr President, and hopefully I will also get a supplementary question. This is an important matter. It is an important matter for Australians that they do have a new, high-speed, national, wholesale broadband that delivers in the way in which it has been tendered for and that it meets all the characteristics claimed of it. Obviously this is a contract that is subject to careful negotiation, and the negotiations are currently underway. If Senator Conroy is lucky, I will tell him when we sign it.

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. Can the minister explain how she could have awarded a Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program contract to a company which has no spectrum, has never tested its product in a real-world situation, has no equipment to broadcast fixed wireless and could not confirm the geographic coverage of its own proposed network? Could she also answer the question that I asked previously, which was: when will the contract be signed; and who is doing the laboratory testing, where and under what conditions?

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

I do very much appreciate the fact that these matters are very much on Senator Conroy’s mind, because of course the Labor Party has not been capable of putting forward any alternative broadband plan at all to the government’s comprehensive broadband plan and new wholesale network beyond a mere press release. We know, of course, Mr Rudd’s attitude to press releases. When asked if he would commit to the funding for the Mersey hospital, he said he only acts on evidence; and, of course, how could he possibly comment on a press release!

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

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. The minister has had nearly five minutes and has not once attempted to answer any of the specific questions that I have put to her. I ask you to draw her to the question.

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

Senator Coonan, I remind you of the supplementary question.

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

The answer to Senator Conroy’s question is that negotiations are underway—and they are, of course, subject to some commercial confidentiality, as Senator Conroy would appreciate. Senator Conroy can while away the time. He can tell us what the Labor Party has in mind, issue some coverage maps and, after 4½ months, have something to say about Labor’s platform. (Time expired)

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.