Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

In his rhetorical flourish opening his statement on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2017-2018 the minister posed the question: how much money did Labor spent on mobile black spot programs? It is a very good question with which to open these proceedings. The answer to that question is $250 million, slightly more than the government is currently spending on its mobile phone black spot program, but it was more targeted and it was not used as a political slush fund.

Madam Deputy Speaker, you would know that unless you have backhaul cable that is connecting a mobile phone tower to the rest of the network, those towers you build are just poles in a paddock. They are not connecting a network and they are absolutely useless. This is a fact that appeared to be lost on the minister opposite when he asked how much money Labor spent on a mobile phone black spot program. The answer is $250 million, and a hell of a lot of the towers that they are now funding could not have been built unless Labor had put the Blackall cable into the ground. That is a fact that is lost on these guys.

My questions go directly to the Mobile Black Spot Program, which has been roundly condemned by independent economic and probity analysts. First it was the Australian National Audit Office, which, in its damning report into round 1 of the program, highlighted serious flaws in the design and the administration of the program. As if that were not enough, it was then followed by the Productivity Commission's December report into the universal service obligation, which, on page 266, said:

… the Commission is concerned that there is a risk that Australian Government funding is directed at expanding mobile coverage in locations for political reasons rather than to locations where overall community wellbeing might be better served.

You would have thought after reading both of these reports and having the sirens go off that they responsible government would have heeded the warning. This is round 1, seen to have been corrupted by a political process, with round 2 in danger of repeating the very same mistakes. So, at the Senate estimates hearings last week, you can imagine our surprise at the answer we got when we asked the department and the minister responsible for administering the scheme whether they had adopted the recommendations of the ANAO, whether they had learnt from their mistakes and whether there would be a transparent competitive process for round 3 of the program. What was the answer? The answer was no. They are repeating all of the same mistakes that had been made in rounds 1 and 2 of that program, the same mistakes that had been roundly criticised by the ANAO and by the Productivity Commission.

In April 2014, you told the listeners to ABC Ballarat this about the program when it was first announced: 'It will be obviously necessary to prioritise and make sure that the money we have that we allocate to areas is to the areas of greatest need.' My question to the minister is: what has changed? Why are you now not using a transparent and independent program for round 3 of the program? Why have you not learnt from the damning findings of the ANAO report and why will you do not implement the recommendations of those reports to ensure that mobile phone towers are built in the areas of the highest need?

The shadow minister and I have highlighted a number of areas in regional Australia which have been subject to bushfires and other natural disasters and have put in very compelling bids for funding under this program but have been overlooked time and time again. I highlight the advocacy of the member for McEwen for mobile phone towers in his electorate in those areas subject to the Black Saturday bushfires for which reports and community organisations have said a phone tower would have made the difference. Why are they not funded? Why will the minister not learn from these previous reports?

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