Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. I must say that I appreciate getting some questions on the NBN, because I never get them from the opposition. In fact, the only question the shadow minister for communications ever asked me was about a boat. In fact, they have asked the minister for immigration and me the same number of questions on boats—only one each, as far as I am aware.

But the position is that, by taking on the fiscal realities of our nation, of not deluding ourselves, of recognising that we cannot keep on spending and spending and running up debt, this government is getting down to the business of repairing the budget and, as part of that, repairing the NBN. I can inform the House that, with the stabilisation of the rollout, with the new management, we are now in a position to provide more information and more certainty for people living in roll-out areas. Today, NBN Co is releasing information on around 70 new sites, covering 167,000 premises, where build preparation for the fibre rollout has begun. That means that people will soon see workers out in the street, clearing Telstra's ducts and pits ahead of the physical network being installed. In Dobell, around 7,200 premises are a step closer to getting access to the National Broadband Network, with build preparation work now underway in Bateau Bay, 4,800 premises, and in Long Jetty, Toowoon Bay and Blue Bay, about 2,400 premises.

I can inform the honourable member that in her seat of Dobell the NBN has already passed 13,200 premises in brownfields or built-up areas. Just across the road from the honourable member's seat in the seat of Robertson we have fibre-to-the-node pilots underway in Umina, we already have 11 nodes in Umina and, as the NBN noted in a recent estimates hearing, we have signed an agreement to facilitate the access to the spare Telstra copper pairs there, meaning end-users can be signed up to services on a trial basis.

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