John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask my further supple­mentary question. Can the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy, advise whether the fixed wireless network has been designed to be compatible with other wireless technologies such as the Victorian smart meters and other monitoring technologies that may arise in the future?

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

Smart meters are one of an array of smart infrastructure that can be deployed over an IP network like the NBN. Whether the Victorian government or other providers choose to use the network is up to them. I would certainly welcome the Victorian government wanting to ensure that they could use smart meters across the National Broadband Network. I think that would be a very good outcome. In the same way, I am encouraging the smart grid project in Newcastle, and with the deployment of the fibre network in Newcastle over the next few years I encourage them to work out a way to do it together. It would be a terrible waste of the country's resources if we had an entire rollout of smart meters that did not work closely with the rollout of the National Broadband Network. I would welcome any constructive discussions from anyone wanting to be involved in bringing their infrastructure and their use of it for use in the NBN.