Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Coonan. Will the minister inform the Senate how the government is ensuring access to fast broadband for all Australians? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Eggleston for his question and for his longstanding interest in the issue of broadband, especially for some of the very far-flung areas he represents in Western Australia. Broadband is critical infrastructure that supports economic growth across business, education, health and entertainment and enhances the way we communicate with each other through all areas of life.

Australia has an exponential record in broadband uptake. In just five years we have gone from a situation where 96 per cent of Australians accessed the internet through dial-up services to the position today where 3.9 million Australians are connected to broadband. We have almost done the job of connecting Australians across this vast continent. More than half of all internet users and nearly three-quarters of all business users have broadband. What matters now is the development of a scaleable, quality broadband service allowing consumers to choose the speeds which best suit their needs. We have committed more than $600 million through the Broadband Connect infrastructure program to building the necessary broadband infrastructure that will give Australia a truly scaleable, next-generation broadband network. It meets the needs and demands for ever-increasing bandwidth.

Last week I was pleased to see a consortium of telecommunication providers known as the G9 announce a commercial proposal to roll out a fibre-optic network to up to three million premises in the mainland capital cities. This consortium has said that it will submit a special access undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in May. An open access network will ensure competition for customers and businesses, will ensure that prices will be kept low and of course will ensure more innovation in this fast-changing sector. The initiative as proposed would greatly enhance the choices open to Australian consumers, and I think it is a very welcome move on the landscape.

I am asked if I am aware of any alternative policies. Despite all Mr Rudd’s posturing and prancing up and down and announcing vast amounts of money over which he has absolutely no control, we have not seen how much he thinks it will cost Labor to come anywhere near the government’s achievements and future plans for broadband. We know that Labor tried a year or so ago to jump on Telstra’s bandwagon and their proposal then to install fibre to the node, a proposal that Telstra walked away from, blowing a $4 billion black hole in Labor’s idea. Years before, we know that Labor could only really support dial-up, and another $5 billion was blown on a national blow-out that would not be worth the cheque that it was written on today.

Not only has Labor a secret plan to roll back all the consumer safeguards in telecommunications; it is failing to come up with the hard policy and financial commitment to ensure adequate broadband. We need broadband infrastructure in this country which is scaleable, and only this government is doing the hard work required to provide it.

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given the minister’s answer to the last question, my question is also to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You couldn’t change it?

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can change lots of things, Senator Abetz. Given the minister’s answer, I refer her to the Broadband Australia Campaign brochure recently sent to Telstra’s 1.6 million shareholders. Is the minister aware that the brochure claims that Australia is ‘17th of 30 developed countries in broadband penetration’, ‘25th in the world in available internet bandwidth’ and ‘15th in the world in networked readiness’? Is the minister also aware that this brochure states:

If government and regulators don’t allow the next wave of internet investment, Australia will be left behind ... as our global competitors work even smarter and faster.

Why has the minister allowed Australia to fall behind the rest of the world in investment in broadband? Will the minister now make the regulatory changes necessary to facilitate the investment in broadband that Australia needs?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Webber for that question. I might rhetorically ask: why wasn’t Senator Webber fast enough on her feet to be able to change her question? What we see here is that the Labor Party has now confirmed what we have suspected since October last year; the Labor Party will back a campaign to roll back telecommunications regulation and to put consumers of this country at risk of losing these protections that for so long they have relied on, such as untimed local calls. We know that the Labor Party and of course Telstra now want to abolish important consumer safeguards. I know it sounds a bit hard to believe; many Australians will be saying: ‘Surely this is not really what Labor is proposing. Labor would surely not be foolish enough to destroy competition.’

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

Mr President, I rise on a point of order going to relevance. Obviously the minister has not been able to find her new brief yet to answer the question. This is not about the regulations to do with consumer protection; this question says: why has the minister allowed Australia to fall behind the rest of the world in broadband? I ask you to draw the minister to the question.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, the minister has over three minutes to complete her answer. I remind her of the question and I call Senator Coonan.

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know that Senator Conroy feels very embarrassed about the fact that the Labor Party are backing Telstra’s campaign to roll back regulation—and he is trying to rescue Senator Webber—but the point is that it is hardly surprising, when you look at the brochure that is attributed to Telstra, that the most dominant and the most profitable telecommunications company in Australia is asking for a winding back of regulation to entrench that position. That is not surprising. It is not surprising that Telstra, in looking after its own commercial interests, would want to roll back anything that stands in the way of it rolling over all its competitors. That is not surprising, but I am very shocked that the Labor Party would jump on this bandwagon and abandon consumers so wantonly.

The important thing is that this government look after the national interest. We understand that telecommunications providers want to look after their commercial interests and that commercial interests are basically driven by self-interest. There is nothing wrong with that; there is nothing wrong with business looking after its shareholders. But self-interest, of course, is not the way to go when you are looking after the national interest and the interests of all consumers. I think it shows Labor’s attitude to the vulnerability consumers will have if all competition regulation is rolled back. It shows they are clearly not ready for government.

Let me just give you a preview of what it would mean if Telstra’s campaign actually got up and if Labor’s support for them came to fruition. It would mean a widespread exit of competitors from the industry. It would mean a sharp and sustained increase in broadband and telephone call prices because there would only be one flavour and that would be Telstra—you could not have any choice you wanted. A return to the days when there was only one choice of provider would surely mean that there would be no incentive to roll out new services, and it would certainly mean that consumers would have very little choice. It would mean a substantial reduction in investment in both new infrastructure and new services. It would mean no more consumer rights to a phone service. And of course it would mean major breaches of Australia’s international trade obligations if we were to roll back that competition regulation. This government will not be dictated to by any company. We will continue to act in the national interest and not in the commercial interests of one company.

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask a supplementary question, Mr President. Is the minister aware that neither the Telstra nor the G9 fibre to the node broadband investment proposals can occur without regulatory reform? Given this, does the minister accept that her stubborn refusal to consider reform of telecommunications regulations until 2009 is holding Australia back?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To start with, Senator Webber is dead wrong. This government continue to look at the regulatory settings and to monitor them on an ongoing basis. We certainly have reviewed the arrangements on many occasions in the lead-up to the sale of Telstra and will continue to monitor and make adjustments where it is appropriate to do so. What is important in this debate is that Australians have services that they can afford and that the services are comparable right across the country. It is important that the voters of this country try to understand that Labor will roll back consumer safeguards and will roll back the competition that provides these services right across the country, irrespective of where they live.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.