Ken Ticehurst (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

For many years the Central Coast has suffered as a rural area and we have had problems with telecommunications infrastructure. However, the Australian government’s $878 million Broadband Connect and the $50 million Metro Broadband Connect have been assisting people on the Central Coast to get access to broadband. The recently announced $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee builds on the success of these programs. It will fill remaining broadband black spots across Australia. Broadband is, of course, offering substantial benefits to local small businesses by helping to improve productivity, save money, provide greater flexibility for workers and allow businesses to better explore the benefits of having an online presence. It is also providing families with better and faster access to a range of services from news and entertainment to education and government services. That is why, as the federal member for Dobell, one of my priorities is to assist communities, small businesses and constituents in my electorate to gain access to these services. I have been lobbying for several years to sort out the problems with these black spots.

We hear Labor talking about fibre to the node as though that is the only technology available. We saw what happened when Labor were in government and they picked winners. They dumped AMPS because they are only interested in capital cities. AMPS worked in rural areas and they adopted the GSM system, which is solely based on European technology. Once you got 32 kilometres from the cell you had no mobile phones. It was only with the advent of the CDMA, which was introduced by the Howard government, that rural constituents got access to mobile phones. Now, of course, Telstra has come in with the Next G, which is a wideband CDMA network, and when it is rolled out correctly, when it has run its full distance, we will find that broadband will actually be available on the Next G network. In many areas around Australia you can access broadband now on your smart phone.

I have invited Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, to come to my electorate on a number of occasions. Some years ago, we had a roundtable to discuss these issues with the providers: Telstra Country Wide, Business Central Coast, Connect IT and then local internet providers Cirrus and Central Coast Internet. These are wireless providers who have been offering wireless broadband to residents for a number of years.

The Australian government is committed to bringing broadband to the Central Coast and solving black spots. For the electorate of Dobell, the benefits of the guarantee have been increased up to $2,750 per connection. This is a five-fold increase on previous commitments from the federal government. Areas such as Bateau Bay, Wyoming, Warnervale, Wyong and Tuggerah will be able to receive this subsidy for connections to new services. Some parts of the electorate, including east of Cedar Brush Creek and of Central Mangrove, were eligible for subsidies under the Broadband Connect incentive scheme.

Anyone on the Central Coast who is unable to gain a reasonable level of broadband service at their principal place of residence or small business will be able to receive a subsidised broadband. It is as simple as that. The guarantee will be very similar to the Australian government’s popular and highly successful $878 million Broadband Connect program and the guarantee will continue to give eligible consumers—

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