Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Would the Prime Minister outline to the House the significance of today's agreements between NBN Co., Telstra and Optus? What does this agreement mean for broadband in Australia? Are there any risks to this and other economic reforms?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Greenway for her question—a woman with consid­erable expertise when it comes to these questions, an expertise she has been able to share with us in our discussions within the government about the National Broadband Network. Can I say to the parliament I do not think anything could better symbolise the difference between a government focused on the future and understanding what this nation needs for the future and political parties like the Liberal Party and the National Party trapped in the past.

We are determined to deliver the National Broadband Network, and it is being rolled out as we speak, as we stand here, around mainland Australia. I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to turn the NBN on in mainland Australia, in Armidale, earlier this year. What does the National Broadband Network mean? It means for Australian businesses greater productivity and competitiveness. It means for Australians better health care. It literally means that a mother with a sick baby in her home at night can get face-to-face health care through the power of the National Broadband Network. It means that Australian school kids and adults who are learning skills, whether it be at a trade centre or in a university, can have the best of education brought to them from around the world. It means ending for all time the burdens that regional Australia has lived with because of the tyranny of distance and because of the differential costs in telecommunications.

We are determined to roll out the National Broadband Network because we understand this vision of the future. Today we took another major step forward. Of course, we have taken the step forward of turning it on in mainland Australia. We have taken the step forward of getting the structural separation of Telstra—something that eluded the Howard government as a microeconomic reform. I do thank the member for Wentworth for acknowledging the signifi­cance of the microeconomic reform we have achieved, with the words:

It was honestly a failure of imagination on our part in government. We should have worked out a way to enable Telstra to be separated in a way that preserved and enhanced shareholder value.

Lack of imagination on that side; a vision for the future over here—we got it done. The reform that eluded the Howard govern­ment—we have got it done. Today we have taken another big step forward with the agreements with Telstra and Optus, which mean that the copper network will be decommissioned, that the customer base of Telstra will move to the National Broadband Network, and we will get the savings and efficiencies that come with rolling out broadband through the infrastructure that already exists. That means faster rollout. It means less overhead cabling. This is unambiguously good news for Australians who are waiting for broadband. It is unambiguously good news if you care about the competitiveness of our nation against other economies around the world. It is unambiguously good news if you care about Australians getting the health and education services of the future. It is unambiguously good news if you care about regional Australia. This is the telecommunications structure and infrastructure our nation needs today and I am very pleased that today we were able to deliver this big step forward in getting faster broadband, more choice and cheaper prices to Australians around the nation.