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

I thank Senator Furner for his question. The Gillard government remains committed to rural and regional Australia, as we continue to deliver the $250 million Regional Backbone Blackspots Program. This program is investing significant amounts in improving telecommunication infrastructure for those in regional and rural Australia, who have for so long experienced second-rate telecommunications infrastructure. The RBBP continues to see some 6,000 kilometres of fibre backbone rolled out across regional Australia. We have already laid 5,600 kilometres, or nearly 95 per cent. This will connect 100 regional locations and positively impact 400,000 people across six states and territories.

Back in February 2010, the RBBP was officially launched in Mount Isa. I am pleased to update the chamber with news that the fibre-optic backbone link between Darwin and Toowoomba, a 3,800-kilometre stretch that passes right through Mount Isa, is within months of completion, having already had 3,685 kilometres of fibre-optic cable deployed on this link alone. For regional communities such as Mount Isa, connection to the RBBP means rapid improvements in retail broadband services and better value broadband plans for customers. Instead of the Nationals supporting the drive to provide equivalence of services, they have turned— (Time expired)