Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak of one of the more shameful red herrings deployed recently by the ALP. This is Labor's referral to the Auditor-General of supposed donations by Parakeelia to the Liberal Party. It should have been obvious to everybody, particularly to some of the breathlessly credulous commentators on this issue at the time, that the amounts in question were in fact not donations but other receipts—a fundamentally important distinction. So surprise, surprise: today the Audit Office said a preliminary investigation has confirmed that the referred arrangements are completely above board—hardly a surprise. The Audit Office found absolutely no evidence that Parakeelia donated any profits from the sale of Feedback software to the Liberal Party. In fact, the Audit Office found absolutely the opposite. The Audit Office found that the financial transactions reported to the AEC between Parakeelia and the Liberal Party indicated a net cost to the Liberal Party from the years 2000 to 2015. So not only was no money directly going from Parakeelia to the Liberal Party in net terms; the Liberal Party was actually subsidising the cost of it to Liberal Party members.

So, rather than profiting from Feedback, the Liberal Party has been subsidising it. This very arrangement that Mr Shorten called a scam was actually no scam at all, and in fact it is so typical of the hypocrisy of the Labor Party. The same charge—equally, I must note, without foundation—could have been made about Labor's arrangement whereby money has gone directly from the taxpayer to the Labor Party and, before then, going to Labor's software provider, Magenta Linas. Mr Shorten talked of a scam that the Audit Office has dismissed.

But I now turn to something for which there is evidence in my home state of Western Australia, namely an apparent so called round-robin scam which appear to channel money from Perth Trades Hall to the Labor Party and then from the Western Australian taxpayer to Magenta Linas and then back to Trades Hall. As I said, an apparent round-robin, using Mr Shorten's words, looks like a scam to me. After his comments on Parakeelia, the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, not unreasonably was asked if he could rule out Magenta Linas ever having donated to the Labor Party or any of its subsidiaries.

In answer to this question, Mr Shorten said in part:

The Labor party has no ownership structures at all of Magenta Linus. I don't know every transaction they've had at the state level but what I do know is that the clear difference here is that the Liberal Party—they love a dollar these Liberals.

Let's look at just who really loves the dollars. It is very interesting that Mr Shorten professed ignorance of transactions at a state level, because an examination of electoral returns showed that in 2000-01 Perth Trades Hall made a donation of $431,089 to Labor, and that over five years until 2004-05 Magenta Linus returned a total of $284,978 to Trades Hall. This $284,978 was paid by Magenta Linus to Perth Trades Hall in the form of two unspecified prima facie 'donations', two 'payments' and one 'other receipt'.

The interesting thing is that in October 2000 Magenta Linus, following a tender process, was conditionally accepted to supply, install and support the Electrac electorate information management system for WA ALP members. In 2006, then WA opposition leader in the Legislative Council complained in parliament that the cost to the WA state government of supplying Electrac to Labor members using Magenta Linus was double that of supplying opposition members with an electorate information management system called EMS, after the state Labor government had excluded Parakeelia from the initial tender process.

The WA government awarded and paid Magenta Linus $157,000 per annum for Electrac, which was for the exclusive use of ALP members, but only $80,000 for non-government members to use Consultech's EMS software. I can assure members of the Senate that there were not twice as many ALP members. Were ALP members getting twice the value for their electoral database system? I suspect they were not. In a motion on this matter, the then opposition leader in the Legislative Council, the Hon. Norman Moore, moved on 2 November 2006 the following motion on electoral database systems:

That this house expresses its serious concern at the government’s decision to provide a different and more expensive electorate information management system to each Australian Labor Party state member of Parliament than that provided to all non-ALP members.

He also noted:

In Western Australia, the government provides more money to Labor members of Parliament for their electorate information management system than it provides to non-Labor members. That, to me, is an unsatisfactory state of affairs, in the absence of any explanation to the contrary.

Guess what? He never got an answer to that contradiction of why the Labor system was so much more expensive than that provided to non-Labor members.

What makes these particular transactions between Trades Hall, the ALP and Magenta Linus even more concerning is the very close links between WA Labor and the Perth Trades Hall at the time. Bill Johnston was the State Secretary of the ALP in WA from April 2001 until his election to state parliament in September 2008. He was also State Secretary of Perth Trades Hall. As such, he is the person who submitted the return detailing the Perth Trades Hall's donation of $431,089 made on the 17 October 2000, as well as the person who disclosed the same amount as having been received by the ALP in its 2000-01 return to the AEC. He was also the person who on five separate occasions disclosed the receipt by Perth Trades Hall of a total of $284,978 from Magenta Linus, the provider of the ALP's electoral management system.

In light of the above and Mr Shorten's statement that he knew nothing about any state payments, I now call on Mr Shorten to detail all he knows about these transactions at a WA state level. He and the WA Leader of the Opposition, Mark McGowan, must advise the Western Australian taxpayers what the federal and state Labor leaders knew about the transactions between Magenta Linus, Perth Trades Hall and the WA Labor Party. The $431,089 donation from Perth Trades Hall was made about four months before the 2001 state election and would have been of obvious benefit to the state ALP. As we again approach a state election in Western Australia in little over six months, I would hope commentators treat Mr Shorten's statements, such as those he made about Parakeelia, with the scepticism they deserve. Next time he deploys similar red herrings, his claims will be more closely scrutinised.

In conclusion, the Audit Office did not find a shred of evidence that Parakeelia donated any profits from the sale of Feedback software to the Liberal Party. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The Audit Office actually found that the Labor Party subsidised the provision of this database. The Labor Party in Western Australia now clearly have questions to answer on these matters.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to put some more remarks on the record with regard to the nbn and its disgraceful rollout, frankly, on the Central Coast. The digital divide—the gap between those who have access to the internet and those who can afford to pay for that access and have the ability to use the network—is quite simply a gaping chasm on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

A new report entitled Measuring Australia's Digital Divide: the Australian Digital Inclusion Index 2016, which was released last month, outlines the extent of the digital divide in Australia. It makes for very interesting reading. Swinburne University, in partnership with Telstra, have opening comments in the report that simply spell out the challenges that face Australia right now. The Swinburne University digital inclusion index measures access—that is, the ability to connect to the Internet, the frequency of downloads and uploads, and data allowance; affordability—that is, the share of household income spent on internet access; and ability—that is, the basic skills needed to use the internet and the subsequent confidence, attitudes and activities that come with it. It is that complex set of interplay of the capacity of the machinery itself and the person's capacity.

I am very sad to report that Gosford has the lowest score of all the main regional communities in Australia. It is seventh behind the Gold Coast, Wollongong, Newcastle, Geelong, Townsville and Cairns. In New South Wales it is almost 10 points lower on the scale than Sydney and Wollongong. The Central Coast has certainly been left far behind, as far as broadband is concerned. We may have beautiful beaches and, indeed, an idyllic lifestyle for many on the Central Coast, but we are being left behind in the digital age and it is having an impact. There are no jobs and there is no growth under this Liberal government.

The Liberal Party has no interest in facilitating the advancement of technology based businesses in Gosford and no interest for the students who need the web for their studies. Students who rely on the internet for study are being locked out of the network by slow speeds and a clogged copper system that cannot handle the volume of users at peak times, and these are often the times that students want to study. I have student after student and family after family reporting to me that students come home, they start their homework—and for some families it can be quite a process in itself to get the kids to get into the homework—and the whole speed of the internet that is being delivered by the fake NBN, which they have been forced to take up, is just crashing and people are not able to get their work done. For the Liberals the Central Coast is a live experiment when it comes to technology which big cities can take for granted.

It could have been a lot different and it should have been a lot different. Under the previous Labor government, the Central Coast was earmarked for the real national broadband network—fibre to your home or to your business with speeds and capacities that would have put Australia at the top in the world for internet access. Indeed, Labor did begin rolling out the NBN on the Central Coast—in Gosford, East Gosford and West Gosford. When the then communications minister Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals were elected, however, they immediately stopped construction on the Central Coast of the information superhighway. Fibre to the premises was put away, and instead people have a goat track in its place: the fibre to the node copper network. It is an absolute disaster, and let's not forget Malcolm promised us the Liberals' NBN would be faster—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Turnbull.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Turnbull promised it would be 'faster, sooner and cheaper'. Well, that is absolutely not the case. The fibre to the node network continues to use the redundant copper wire system has proved to reveal the mistakes of his past that are becoming more apparent by the day to Australians..

The MTM is supposed to stand for a multitechnology mix but has been called by some in Wagga a spider web, something loosely held together and already blowing in the wind. I think the MTM actually stands for 'Malcolm Turnbull's Mess'. The MTM is taking twice as long at twice the price, and if you finally get a connection and, believe me, it is not easy to do. I have moved recently and I can tell you it is a long, long wait. My husband has waited three times for visits from Telstra—a total of 12 hours; 12 hours of productivity cut away from his life while waiting for Telstra to show up. On three occasions they promised, but still no NBN. It is an absolute nightmare.

A fast, reliable internet connection is vital for regions in Australia where you have the chance of a level playing field for small businesses, particularly for those competing in global markets. Many of the digital businesses in the creative industries, which are potential growth industries on the Central Coast, are being stymied in their growth because of a failure of Mr Turnbull to see the NBN as an investment rather than a cost. A fast, reliable internet connection is vital. It enables telemedicine and other advances that are especially important for older people living in remote and isolated areas. The same goes for education. Ten years ago, federal Labor recognised the growing frustration of the community due to this lack of broadband access. That is why we instituted the fibre to the home NBN, but it has been resisted by the coalition at every turn.

My office has been inundated with complaints from people across the Central Coast about line dropouts, total internet blackouts at peak times, slow speeds and a lack of service from the NBN Co. and internet service providers. I went to a tile shop recently and I asked them how their new NBN connection was going. They said, 'We are in the middle of doing our business and the line is dropping out multiple times an hour. Give us back our old ADSL.' But they are not allowed to have that now, because the NBN has been rolled out, and Mr Turnbull is telling you what can and cannot have. That business has been saddled with completely inefficient access to the marketplace. I was recently speaking to people from a cleaning company, and for eight weeks they have been without the internet. They have not been able to send out their invoices, and that is a massive threat to small business. The Liberal Party constantly claims they are the friends of small business, yet this is the result of their decision making. Mr Turnbull said it was going to cost $29.5 million. Now the great money manager has blown it out to $54 billion for the dog's breakfast of a rollout that we have. It is a disgrace; it is a waste and a great shame.

The Swinburne report finds that it is regional Australia that is suffering the most from Mr Turnbull's mess. While the state's ADI scores were 54.9, which is considered to be a medium score and slightly above the national average of 54.5, Gosford came in at a low 48.7 and the Hunter region was the worst performer with 41.2. The Murray and Murrumbidgee area was next worse with a score of 48.4, while the South Coast got the bronze medal for the worst index score on 48.6. Sydney, where all these policy makers are saying, 'You don't need to worry; fibre to the node will do you', scored 57.5. It is just not fair; it is not an inclusive society. This is the deliberate construction of an infrastructure spend that is delivering a two-speed society. As the report states:

The data shows that while the digital divide continues to narrow, persistent and significant differences remain between different groups of Australian in relation to both access and use of the internet.

Let us talk about Wagga Wagga. The member for Riverina is Mr Michael McCormack, who is also the Minister for Small Business. The Murray-Murrumbidgee has a score of 48.4, and the analysis rates a score under 50 as very low. Mr McCormack must make it a priority to take this matter to Mr Turnbull and fix up what is a terrible problem emerging in that area. Dr Schirmer of the University of Canberra said their survey showed that farmers were being told to adopt new internet-based technology to improve their production and efficiency, but their internet simply is not good enough to allow them to do that. He said:

I've had farmers ringing me up saying 'I've bought this piece of equipment for $500,000 and to get the best out of it I need decent internet and I don't have that …'

We know that in the seat of Riverina, represented by Mr McCormack, we have a community that wants to use new technologies, that needs to use new technologies, to improve productivity, grow jobs and advance the economy of the Riverina. Instead, as we know, Australia is falling behind.

A World Economic Forum communique indicates that millions of Australians are living without internet access, and has recorded Australia, to our shame, as the lowest scoring country in the category of affordability for internet access. We were once leading into the digital age—now, under the leadership of Mr Turnbull, into the digital Dark Ages.

Senate adjourned at 22:08