Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. Is it true that Telstra’s HFC cables in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane could be upgraded and built to provide a better or equally as good network as the NBN to the majority of Australians at a fraction of the $40 billion cost of the NBN?

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

In one word, and then I will explain why, the answer very simply is no. Let me explain to you the laws of physics. HFC is like wireless in a pipe. The more people who switch on and use HFC cable at the same time the slower the dedicated speeds become. Let us pretend you have a 100 meg speed connection. Unfortunately, with HFC, the words that must always be used because the law requires it are ‘up to 100 meg’. Let us be very clear about this. ‘Up to’ means that as soon as two of you switch it on your speed starts to slow, if three of you switch it on your speed starts to slow more and if a whole street switches it on the speed really starts to slow. With a piece of fibre it is very simple: it is a dedicated connection which has no interference or impact if the person in the next house or the next street turns it on.

The other thing about the DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade of the HFC cable is that it has been configured at 100 megs down and two up. This cannot match a piece of fibre which can have a significantly greater degree of symmetry when it comes to uploads and downloads. So the very simple answer, Senator Macdonald, is no, it cannot, and Telstra themselves, as has been revealed in the agreement, are bringing their broadband customers off the HFC network and across onto the fibre network because ultimately they know that they cannot compete with a dedicated piece of fibre in the same street. That is why this deal is a win-win. It is a win for Telstra shareholders and a win for the broader Australian community because it will take us into the leading edge of world technology capacity, and that is why this deal should be supported by those opposite. It particularly should be supported by those in the bottom corner down there in the National Party, because they are turning their backs on their own voters. They are condemning their— (Time expired)

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I note that the minister’s advice is contrary to that given to the Senate select committee on that subject, but I ask the minister why it is that in the deal—mind you, I emphasise that it is a non-binding deal—Telstra is forbidden to have infrastructure which can compete with the NBN. Is this a back-to-the-1950s, government owned monopoly? Is this deal all about killing competition in the name of promoting competition?

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind senators that the time for debating the issue is at the end of question time.

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

There are so many incorrect assertions in that question that it is hard to know where to start, but let me be very clear about this. Firstly, there is no conflicting evidence with testimony to the Senate select committee, because let me quote to you the chief technology officer for Telstra, Hugh Bradlow, who said that fibre to the home ‘is the end game’. That is Telstra’s chief technology officer and he said it many times. I will take his testimony over your assertions any day of the week, Senator Macdonald.

As for some of the other assertions, they are nonsensical. Some of them are so nonsensical that I do not know where to start with an answer. But this is a deal that is, as I said, a win-win. This is a deal that creates a wholesale market and a retail market, because those opposite cannot get away from the fact that they privatised a vertically integrated monopoly— (Time expired)

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. The minister’s incompetence is clear for all to see, but I ask him now: why is it that Australia’s fastest growing broadband provider said recently, as TPG Telecom’s executive chairman did, that he is not convinced that demand for NBN services has matured and that deeper analysis is required before taxpayers’ dollars are thrown into it? Does this prove that Mr Rudd—

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: I ask if you would look at the introductory comments to this question from the honourable member and see if they are in keeping with the standing orders. I believe that they are not.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will look at the introductory comments and if necessary I will come back to the chamber.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Regarding the point of order, I hope that the clock goes back to 10 seconds—where it was when I was interrupted?

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, you will be given the opportunity to complete your question.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. It is always the case of the Greens coming to aid their allies in the Labor Party. Does this prove that Mr Rudd drove negotiations for an early and expensive deal to try to offset, and even influence, the next bad Newspoll—the political win that Senator Conroy actually spoke about in his answer to the first question today, demonstrating that clearly this is all about politics and not about a decent national broadband network?

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

Can I have two minutes to answer that? He had two minutes to ask it. I would just like to draw—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, resume your seat. I remind senators that it is disorderly to shout across the chamber and to interject during question time.

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

Thank you. Can I again go back to the editorial in today’s Age, which states that the deal means an end to a flawed model of combined wholesale and retail operations that stultified our telco market for years. And on the point that you made about us rushing this at the end, in November, December, January, February, March and April I have been saying that we had to conclude this by the end of June. Well, guess what? It is the end of June.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

You can check my public statements for the last six months. I have been saying the end of June. I would love to say that I pay that much attention to when the Australian is going to conduct a Newspoll—and I have seen some commentary about the Australian’s view of its own self-importance that the whole world revolves around the Australian Newspoll—but what I said in November, December, January, February and March is that we would be finished at the end of June. I really assure you that I had no idea on which weekend Newspoll was conducting its polls. (Time expired)