Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. Can the minister advise the Senate of the progress of the rollout of the National Broadband Network?

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

I thank the good senator for the question. I am please to say that, in addition to the progress that we are making in Tasmania with first services to be switched on in July of this year, construction of the first building blocks of the NBN on mainland Australia has now commenced. Last week I launched construction in Mount Isa of the link that will traverse from Darwin through Mount Isa, Emerald and Longreach and all of the way to Toowoomba—over 3,800 kilometres of fibre-optic backbone cable. Nextgen Networks has been selected to deliver competitive backhaul to the six priority locations under the National Broadband Network regional backbone black spots program. The Darwin-Mount Isa-Toowoomba link is the longest and is expected to take approximately 18 months to complete. However, the shorter lengths are expected to be completed earlier. This demonstrates the Labor Party’s commitment to regional Australia. This marks another significant milestone for the NBN. In total the NBN regional backbone black spots initiative will involve approximately 6,000 kilometres of new optical fibre, around 2½ times the amount of new backbone links that would have been built under the former government’s OPEL proposal. It will benefit more than 100 regional locations, in turn benefiting a total of approximately 395,000 regional residential and business consumers in regional Australia. (Time expired)

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate on why investment in regional fibre-optic backbone links will help to deliver high-speed broadband to Australian homes and businesses, including those in small rural and regional towns?

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

I thank Senator McLucas again. As I was saying, Nextgen expects this investment to create more than 1,000 full-time-equivalent jobs and provide economic stimulus to regional locations. Backbone links are the communication highways that connect our towns, our cities and our rural areas to each other and the world. The six links that we are building will enable the provision of high-speed broadband, including to rural and remote areas. I am aware that some members of the opposition are running a scare campaign, claiming that the people in regional Australia will miss out on high-speed broadband under our NBN plan. Let me make it clear that all Australians will have access to high-speed broadband under Labor’s NBN plan. The NBN will deliver a next generation wireless and satellite service to those outside the fibre-to-the-premise footprint, delivering speeds— (Time expired)

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate of the reaction from industry on the rollout of fibre backbone links to key parts of regional Australia?

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

The government’s announcement has been welcomed by some of the largest telco carriers in the country, including Macquarie Telecom, Internode, iiNet, NetSpace, Ancon and Adam Internet. It has also been welcomed by key figures in the regional community. Dr Bill Glasson AO, the Chair—appointed by those opposite—of the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee, said:

This development will make a huge difference to telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia. This announcement addresses major recommendations of the RTIRC review and we congratulate the government on this timely endeavour.

Mary-Lou Corcoran, the Victor Harbour Mayor, said, ‘This is a fantastic result.’ Councillor John Duscher, the Bass Coast Shire Mayor, said, ‘I can’t overstate what this means for the region— (Time expired)