Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

Debate resumed on the motion:

That the Senate take note of the NBN Co. Ltd Report for 2011-12.

It is not with great pleasure, regrettably, that I rise to speak in relation to item No.9 which is the NBN Co. Ltd. I want to briefly mention some matters that are raised by the shadow minister in relation to the NBN rollout. And then I want to talk about some matters in relation to Corangamite, which of course has suffered badly from the rollout. Just out of interest, the target—of course the revised NBN target, because as we all know they have been revised down and revised down—which is the 'pass by' has 286,000 houses by June 2013 but in December 2012 there were 46,000. So, the revised-down target of 286,000 for June next year has only 46,000 as at December 2012. The activate target was meant to be 44,000 premises by June 2013, but only 6,600 as of December 2012—again, downgraded. As the shadow minister said, the coalition is totally committed to high-speed broadband at affordable prices. But the NBN is not, and will not, do that.

The interesting part is that the member for Corangamite, Darren Cheeseman—the inactive member for Corangamite, Darren Cheeseman—of course, has been making many promises about the NBN network and telling his constituents that they will be on it soon. But that actually does not stack up when you look at the facts of it. In fact, if you look in Corangamite itself, the Colac and the Otways are not even included in the to-do list—the constantly revised down to-do list. Suburbs such as Highton, Grovedale, Waurn Ponds and Belmont are not in the revised-down to-do list.

Just out of interest, Waurn Ponds is where Deakin University is placed—a fantastic education institution—and the planned teaching hospital there. Interestingly, Mr Cheeseman very recently stated that the NBN is about getting families online and access to health and aged care, and kids getting access to world-class education services. Well, in Waurn Ponds—not even on the revised to-do list—the Deakin University, which indeed is providing world-class education services, is actually not on the NBN list. Is not on it! And those people in Ocean Grove and Torquay—which are planned for 2015, and they are part of the three-year plan—what confidence can they possibly have that they will soon have an NBN connection, let alone an activation of that connection? The fact is, Mr Cheeseman should stop talking about his constituents having access to the NBN when he knows the truth is they will not have it. For many, they are not even part of the planned three-year rollout. For those who are ostensibly part of the planned three-year rollout, they will see those figures quoted by the shadow minister about the revised-down figures for the NBN Co.

This is a complete and utter fuzz, and Labor members in the other place, and Labor senators, have to stop talking about the virtues of a program that is extraordinarily expensive, and that the government even keeps offline on the budget. And when you look at what has been rolled out, it is simply not happening.

Mr Cheeseman has to be honest with his constituents. How can it be that people in Colac and the Otways are not even included in the rollout? How is it that those in Torquay and Ocean Grove will have no confidence at all that they are going to be part of it. How is it that Highton, Grovedale and Waurn Ponds and Belmont, again like Colac and the Otways, are not even on the revised-down list? This is a farce. This government has got to stop talking about this NBN rollout and start telling the truth about what is happening.

What is happening of course, is nothing! Nothing is happening! These figures have been revised down, they are unachievable targets and it is about time there was a bit of honesty from the minister and the member for Corangamite.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted.