Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, why is the National Broadband Network so important for a more productive Australian economy?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Oxley for that very important question. The NBN is a fundamental microeconomic reform, probably one of the most important microeconomic reforms in Australia in the past 30 years. It has tremendous potential to lift the productivity performance of the Australian economy across the board. It has tremendous potential to drive new competition and innovation, and nowhere is this more important than in regional Australia. If you go to Townsville or Mackay or Western Australia—if you go to any regional area in this country—you find that small businesses are crying out for superfast broadband because they understand how important it is to the future, particularly, of small business in those communities.

They understand this particularly in the electorate of Dawson. There, small business organisations are very public in calling for the NBN. It is urgent that we deliver this fundamental microeconomic reform because it has been in the too-hard basket for far too long. One of the difficulties was that, when those opposite privatised Telstra, they put in place a vertical structure in the industry that made the sort of competition that the NBN will drive almost impossible. So it has fallen yet again to a Labor government to put in place a fundamental reform by putting in place a wholesale network in which you can then have vigorous retail competition, one which will go to the great regional areas of this country which have been starved of this sort of investment for far too long and which, in particular, were starved of this investment by the National Party who sit opposite and who are now trying to crush this vital microeconomic reform because they do not understand what must be done in this country to drive prosperity. But it is not just prosperity in city areas; it is prosperity in regional areas. That is why this is so important. The chairman of the ACCC had this to say about the NBN:

Structural separation will mean the NBN operator has a clear incentive to treat access seekers on an equivalent basis. Therefore, the government’s announcement provides an opportunity to deal head-on with the difficulties arising from the vertical integration of the current incumbent.

It has fallen to this government to deal with those issues. Of course, those are the issues that go to the very heart of the bill that is in the Senate, because its passage can produce in this country a new era of microeconomic reform. It is not just about superfast internet; it is about increasing GDP growth. It is about increasing the innovative capacities of our small businesses. It is about making markets more competitive. It is about doing all of those things but, above all, it is about joining up regional Australia to the national economy and to the international economy. That is understood by all of those in this House who have the interests of regional Australia very much in their hearts.

But what we find is that the opposition, for base political reasons, want to demolish the NBN. This negative approach of the opposition simply sells our country short. They would rather see the NBN fail than the country succeed and regional Australia grow. That is the problem. They have become so bitter and they have become so myopic that they cannot stand for the national interest. On this side of the House we will vigorously pursue the national interest. It is not only right for the economy but right for all Australians.