Senate debates
Thursday, 8 February 2018
Questions without Notice
Broadband
2:06 pm
Lucy Gichuhi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Minister for Communications, Senator Fifield. Can the minister advise the Senate of the jobs and future opportunities created by the rollout of the Australian National Broadband Network?
Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank Senator Gichuhi for her question. Building a next-generation national communications network in a country the size of Australia is a massive venture, due to its engineering and logistical complexity. Despite that. the NBN has powered ahead. In terms of connections, what it took NBN a full year to do in 2014 now takes a bit over six weeks, and I'm very pleased to advise Senator Gichuhi that in her home state of South Australia the rollout is now 66 per cent complete and that 273,000 South Australian homes and businesses have an active connection to the network.
At the heart of that success is a massive army of subcontractors. There are now more than 30,000 workers across the country who have been accredited by NBN to build and maintain the network, including more than 2,500 in South Australia alone. NBN estimates that there are around 3,600 mum-and-dad subcontracting businesses working right now on the NBN, and more than 200 of those small businesses are based in South Australia. The project's field workforce has been skilling up and working hard to build and switch on services in more than 1,500 suburbs, towns and cities right across the country.
In addition, NBN's internal workforce now stands at more than 6,000. Significantly for our farmers and rural communities, the network has already reached many parts of Australia that were traditionally at the back of the queue when it came to telecommunications. Close to 80 per cent of regional Australia now has access to superfast broadband and well over half the nation overall. So there have been great strides across South Australia, from Mount Gambier to Coober Pedy to Port Lincoln.
Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Senator Gichuhi, a supplementary question.
2:09 pm
Lucy Gichuhi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
What steps have NBN and its contracting partners taken to ensure there is a skilled workforce available to complete the NBN by 2020?
Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The scale of the project, as I said, and as we all know, is unprecedented. What took the PMG, Telecom and Telstra the best part of 70 years to do will be completed in just a handful of years with the NBN.
In this year alone, more than two million homes and businesses will be directly touched. The NBN is investing close to $30 million in skills capability for the telco industry. School leavers are being recruited into the workforce, and training is being offered right across the country to upskill field technicians who will build and maintain the new broadband network. To date, more than 2,300 workers have received accredited training and upskilling, and many thousands of jobseekers have entered the industry. The NBN is a terrific national venture, not just in terms of connecting Australians but also in terms of employing Australians and skilling Australians.
Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It's a disaster! People are asking for their ADSL back!
Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order, Senator O'Neill! Senator Gichuhi, a final supplementary question.
2:10 pm
Lucy Gichuhi (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
How is the coalition's multitechnology approach identifying better economic opportunities for Australians?
Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The answer is pretty straightforward. Connecting more premises sooner and keeping internet bills low are key to supporting the small business sector, which is the engine room of the Australian economy. As I mentioned earlier, more than two-thirds of homes and businesses in South Australia can now connect to the NBN, and a further 64,000 premises have work underway in their streets and towns. As we know, when it comes to the NBN, the speed that counts is the speed of the rollout. That's because the whole nation only gets the full social and economic benefits of fast broadband once the entire nation has it.
As a result of the approach that this government is taking, the NBN will be completed by 2020, which is six to eight years sooner than would have been the case under our predecessors, as I often say, and at $30 billion less cost. The good news is that because it will cost less to build, people's monthly internet bills will be lower than they would be under those opposite.