Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to address the House tonight, because earlier today the government via the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, gave further assurances regarding the rollout of the National Broadband Network to regional and rural Australia. I am delighted by the timing as it gives me the chance to highlight the stunning nondelivery of the NBN into my part of rural and regional Australia, which the government seems to conveniently ignore whenever it puts out another fanciful promise about superfast broadband.

Just for the record, the announcement today states that all Australians will now have access to faster speeds with the NBN's fixed wireless and long-term satellite services upgraded to provide a doubling of broadband speeds to 25 megabits per second to download and five megabits per second to upload. I make pointed reference to the government's use of the term 'all Australians' there and add the line that seems to be missing from this morning's media release: 'All Australians will now have access to faster speeds where it is politically expedient for the government to provide them.' You need no greater evidence of this than the breathless media release which came out just two hours later from the member for New England, who suggests this will make it even easier for local people to decide whether to sign up.

I might say that, while an Independent, the member for New England does happen to maintain the balance of power for this government and just happened to formally announce overnight his intention to recontest his seat. Towns such as Armidale, Inverell, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Guyra, Uralla, Quirindi and Gunnedah are all set to benefit, says the Independent member. This is where I am confused, because each of these towns in New England, apparently now set to benefit from signing up to fast wireless, is already pencilled in to receive the NBN's fibre network on the list released by the minister in July last year.

Confusion exists also in my own seat of Farrer, where towns such as Howlong, Mulwala and Barham are also in line for fibre optic broadband but are currently seeing NBN wireless towers popping up on the outskirts of each town. Let me ask Minister Conroy a rhetorical question: why on earth would any town in the member for New England's electorate, or indeed my own, get excited by superfast broadband of 25 megabits a second out of the sky when in a couple of years they are supposed to have 100 megabits a second delivered to their front door? Let me answer. Originally, half a million households were forecast to be to using the fibre network by mid-2013, but only one-tenth of that number are now expected to be connected.

It is not that long a bow to draw to suggest the government has absolutely no hope of getting fibre to the home to any of these rural areas in the foreseeable future, so it is trying to dupe us into thinking a bit of faster wireless will do. Let me advise the minister that we are simply not that dumb. If the coalition is fortunate enough to be returned to government this year, we will conduct a fully transparent cost-benefit analysis to assess the quickest and most cost-effective means of upgrading fixed line broadband in all areas of Australia where services are currently substandard or unavailable. For my electorate of Farrer, that means every single town, bar Albury—ironically, the only place where Labor has actually announced a rough timetable to deliver its fibre rollout.

I can only echo the sentiments of the National Farmers' Federation about today's announcement by the government. Having faster internet speeds and equivalent pricing is a nice premise, but right now many people in rural areas are still struggling with poor mobile coverage—something many in urban areas take for granted. Let me assure the House that, if the coalition does return to government, rural and regional Australia will certainly not be the political plaything it has become under Labor.