Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure it is going to be a horrible question, so the answer is no.

A government member: Have a go!

You'll get your opportunities! In the 21st century, we need to consider some of the most important things that this parliament will do, not for us, not for our kids, not even for our grandkids, but for the very far distant future—things that we can do today; things that will cost a lot today but will deal with the things that we need to do in the future. It is a bit like when I am in Brisbane and, say, driving over the Story Bridge or looking at some of the things that were built back in the 1920s. I can imagine, back in the 1920s—and it is a little bit like with the submarine cable—when they were building the eight-lane Story Bridge, that some people would have said: 'Why would you need eight lanes on this bridge?', when it was still cart-and-buggy days, and there would have been enough room to fit 20 carts across the bridge. But somebody back then had the good foresight to be able to say: 'But in the future, we will need something much bigger than we can dream of today.'

When I think of connection to the internet, I don't think dial-up 50Kbps, I don't think ADSL—I don't even think ADSL2; I think, what is the largest possible connection I can get so that I can do business with the rest of the world? And it is not so much about what I can do; I think, what are the possibilities? What can others do? I remember at a debate during the election campaign—and this demonstrates the quality of the debate on this—a Liberal party candidate who was debating and laughing at the NBN. He was laughing that it was available at his mother's home. His mother was in her 90s, and he said, 'and she can't even use a computer'. And I thought, you have really missed the point, haven't you? It is not about whether your 90-year-old-plus mother can use a computer, or whether she can have an internet connection to the rest of the world in her home. It is about what her doctors can provide in terms of medical assistance, through—what is now more commonplace—alert devices like wristbands that can alert a doctor, through a wi-fi internet connection in the home, if there is a problem with your 90-year-old-plus mother. But if you can't see that, and if you can't see the future today, how can you possibly see the future tomorrow? More than anything, that is what troubles me about where this government is taking us. They are taking us back to the future. They still dream of the white picket fence of the 50s. They still dream of an era when things were much slower and kinder—which is why we have the Prime Minister speaking at the rate that he does. But the reality is that we have bigger things to do. If we are going to be debating bills on things as important as submarine cables and about our connection to the rest of the world and what that can produce for our country and for our economy, then surely the next logical step—just one step further—is to ask: once you get it to the beach—fibre to the coast—aren't you going to take it somewhere else?

I would say, Mr Deputy Speaker, that in your electorate—and a fine electorate it is, Maranoa—there is a whole range of regional and rural people and people on farms who have got it. They have got it; they understand what it means to be able to deliver real-time weather information. They understand what it means for their kids to be able to access educational information around the world that would otherwise not be available to them. And they understand what it means for their businesses, be it farming, supply chain businesses or others, to be part of a global supply chain, to understand markets better, and to get real-time information. And it is not only real-time information to their home but also on their mobile devices while they are riding around on their ag bikes tending to their stock. This is much deeper than whether it is a Labor, Liberal, or some other ideological bent about the NBN. It is about the future of the Australian economy. The sad thing is that we have seen the member for Wentworth come into this place with a policy which is discredited—across any reputable area, by any reputable economist, by anybody in engineering terms. They don't even call it NBN-lite anymore, because it is not even on the same planet. It is NBN-to-a-few, at best. He might want to wax lyrical in this place about the numbers of take ups and where it has been rolled out, but it is about planning for the future. When this marine cable was planned in 1940, I am sure they were not waxing too lyrical about the take-up rate in 1945 or 1942, but they saw to the future again.

I want to draw a few connections between things that are going on in this country. Low-income superannuation contribution might have nothing to do with this bill, but there is a link between it and what is happening here: National Party electorates in particular are copping the biggest hits. National Party electorates across this country have been dudded the most by the Liberal Party as to how many people will lose out on Labor's low-income superannuation contribution. And when it comes to NBN and the connection to the rest of the world, who is it that misses out the most? People in seats in Central Queensland and along the Queensland coast—seats like Herbert, Dickson, Dawson, Capricornia and Leichhardt—who are going to miss out on NBN. Those were the areas on the map for the next phase of the NBN rollout, which is going into the ground right now, but they are being ignored. Those on the other side can laugh and carry on. Their idea of the future is what they are having for lunch tomorrow, and not what might be happening to our great grandchildren or our economy in the future. This is not a debate about the election cycle; it is about an economic cycle; it is about telecommunications; it is about the industries of the future. Those industries are not horse and buggy whips—that might have been what you were considering in the run up to the election, but it is not what we are considering today.

They had more foresight in 1940 when they were laying these marine cables than this government has today, despite the greater opportunity for insight about what the future might bring. It is disappointing that in my electorate where we had maps, agreements and the next phase of rollouts in places like Bellbird Park, Augustine Heights, Ellen Grove, Gailes, Wacol, Carole Park—working-class suburbs with a large component of commercial and business operations. Those business people want this in the ground, because they want to hook in immediately and they do not want to wait for it to be at the node. They want it right at their front door. In a thriving new satellite city like greater Springfield it is not just about being a great place to live but about business and education—it already has dark optic fibre to its universities, TAFEs and schools, because the developers had foresight. They said a decade ago, 'If Telstra won't put in optic fibre, we'll take a punt with our own money and run our own cable.' And so there is dark optic fibre cable directly to the university, to the Springfield centre for commercial purposes and to some of the suburbs, because the developers understood what the future could provide and understood the value proposition of providing that to everyone's front door. That has produced incredible dividends for commerce and business. Let me tell you that the Springfield Chamber of Commerce is an absolute advocate and supporter of this technology, because they use it. People who live in Brookwater were very lucky to be able to access optic fibre to the home very early on. Those who run a home business in that suburb know the competitive advantage they have. They understand it in the same way as those who were laying the marine cable in 1940. They did not merely run it to the beach and leave it there for somebody else to do something with later. They said: 'We're going to go all the way with this, because we know what this represents. We know the next step we have to take.'

I cannot say enough about the missed opportunity that this government has now delivered to all Australians. The time will come when there is no option but to take up the technology. Everything we do now is based on a higher need, a bigger pipe, greater access. A decade or so ago it might have been okay to be on dial-up. Some here might still remember those funny, clicky sounds when you dialled in. It was also a really frustrating sound. No-one could possibly use that today, because our systems no longer match to that. We need optic fibre to the home in the same way we need the big pipe. Whether it is infrastructure of a more technical nature like this or old-school infrastructure like bridges, roads or ports, you have to build in a bit of spare capacity. You have to look to the future. That is why we on this side will always be supporting the development of NBN to the home—it is in the national interest. While we will be supporting this bill, it does point to the failure of this government.

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