Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for ripping the bandaid off the sore. I really am quite surprised that there is a member of the coalition willing to stand up here in the context of the budget estimates in this portfolio and raise the Mobile Black Spot Program. That is extraordinary. He deserves an Iron Cross for his courage and bravery in the context of this. I've got to say that, in his entire contribution, he didn't mention for one moment the bombshell that was dropped by Bill Morrow, the CEO of the NBN Co, in Senate estimates last week, where it was announced that, because of the inaction of this government, they were ditching the plan to roll out 100-gigabits-per-second wireless services to electorates like his own. There was not a word on that! The courage of this guy is extraordinary!

I would like to say something about the mobile phone blackspot program. Just to upgrade the member for Grey on a little bit of history: Labor invested $250 million in a Regional Backbone Blackspots Program. Let me explain to the minister and the member for Grey why this is important. Unless you have backhaul, all you have is a pole in a paddock. It's a pole in a paddock unless that pole is connected to the network. So Labor's record $250 million into the Regional Backbone Blackspots Program is absolutely critical to what the government is now championing as its mobile phone blackspot program.

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