Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, Mr Speaker, before I commence could I join with others in congratulating the Clerk of the House, Ian Harris, on what is a well-deserved honour. He has been a wonderful servant of this place, and I have had the opportunity over the 17 years that I have been in it to avail myself of his assistance. So, well done, Ian, and congratulations.

Today we got another reminder of how abysmally this government has failed the nation in terms of Broadband Connect—the front of the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘Australia left for dead, says net guru’. It is another wake-up call about the need to deliver real broadband to all Australians regardless of where they live, not just those in the capital cities, as you would well appreciate, Mr Deputy Speaker Adams. It is another indication of the government’s policy failure, another example of the squandered opportunity to invest in this nation’s prosperity—a government awash with money in what is arguably one of the longest resources booms in our history and it still cannot connect the whole of the nation in terms of vital access to this infrastructure.

In the Sydney Morning Herald article, Professor Larry Smarr, the Director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, says that Australia’s internet infrastructure has not kept up with international standards and that, if this is allowed to continue, we will be ‘left out’ of existing and emerging business opportunities. It does not matter what grading of Australia against international standards you look at, in terms of broadband Australia is well down the list, with slow connections across all parts of Australia, even in centres within major cities, restricting businesses—restricting not only economic connectivity but social connectivity as well.

This is a problem that, as bad as it is for the nation, is even worse when it comes to regional communities. Hundreds of thousands of people in businesses in those areas are still waiting to be connected—to step over the digital divide and join the 21st century. The benefit of connecting our regions is monumental for this nation. High-speed broadband is the great enabler for this country, enabling in terms of infrastructure not only for economy purposes but also for social and community purposes. It is what will connect this nation to the information superhighway. Put simply, those regions that have access to fast-speed broadband over the internet are the ones that go ahead; those that do not have it fall behind.

We did not need the good professor today to tell us of this problem because indeed last year the Australian Local Government Association presented its latest State of the regions report, which showed the cost to this nation of failing to connect our regions. In 2006 alone, just one year, the cost of that failure to this country was $2.7 billion in forgone gross domestic product and almost 30,000 regional jobs. Regions such as Wide Bay stand to benefit from an estimated $78 million in additional revenue and 1,000 jobs. Another example is the Mackay region—over $100 million and 1,000 jobs. Gippsland in my home state of Victoria is missing out to the tune of $170 million and 1,500 jobs. In fact, I have a table which I am prepared to present to the House which indicates the costs, broken down, throughout the whole of the country, and I seek leave to table that, Mr Deputy Speaker.

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