Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am looking to see if he actually knows what I am talking about, because he is going to speak on this. Telstra is rolling out 4G wireless technology that allows—shock, horror!—100 megabits per second. That is what it is doing now through cellular telephony—100 megabits per second under 4G technology. And do you know what, Mr Deputy Speaker: it is not costing taxpayers a cent. It is not costing taxpayers a single, solitary cent for Telstra to roll out 4G technology with 100 megabits per second.

If you listen to the Labor Party, you might think: 'Look, Steve, you're getting a bit excited for no reason. We are going to have NBN. It is going to change the future of the Gold Coast. It is going to change the future of Australia's most service industry oriented city in the country. It is going to change the future of the sixth largest city in the country.' Unfortunately, the Gold Coast is not even slated for NBN rollout for the next six years. It will be six more years before it even thinks about rolling out fibre across the Gold Coast under NBN Co. This is coming from the Labor Party, which expects the Australian public to take it seriously when it gives us this kind of piffle. That is exactly what it is: a gigantic investment in ego. It all comm­enced with Kevin Rudd, the member for Griffith, when he was the Prime Minister of the country, and it has been continued by the current Prime Minister because it needed to be a matter of policy consistency. Heaven knows the Labor Party needs some policy consistency, and the reason we are now seeing Australian taxpayers being slugged to the tune of $30 billion to $50 billion is so the Labor Party can roll out its revolutionary fibre to the premises, FTTP, NBN.

When Labor talks about a revolution, there is a revolution all right. It will be the revolution of the children of today who are going to be encumbered with debt as a consequence of this junk policy from the Australian Labor Party. That is not to say the technology is all rubbish, not for one moment. Perhaps the member for Moreton should listen, because he might be able to understand the difference—

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