Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications. What is the government doing to ensure Australians have access to fast broadband? What is the government doing to ensure Australians have access to broadband-enabled telehealth services?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and for her continuing interest and support for the government's policy on ensuring that all Australians have access to very fast broadband sooner, cheaper and more affordably.

The previous government committed more than $20 million to a telehealth trial, but there was a catch. The only people eligible for the trial were those who had access to the NBN's fibre network—in other words, hardly anyone at all. No-one, in fact, in the honourable member's seat of McPherson was eligible—not one. There was no access at all to telehealth under Labor in the seat of McPherson. The Minister for Health and I recognised that this was an obvious shortcoming, and so the Department of Health has announced that telehealth services under the trial can be delivered by a range of broadband access services. It is technology agnostic. So, whether it is fibre or cable or copper or wireless, the important thing is to ensure that people get the service.

There are some limitations to telehealth services. There are some conditions that are arguably incurable and inaccessible. Take Conrovianism. Conrovianism is a very pernicious problem. It has devastating symptoms.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kingston!

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order: relevance.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. I call the Minister for Communications.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the symptoms of Conrovianism is a denial of reality and delusions of grandeur, and imagining oneself to be a movie character. The member for Isaacs, for example, does not know—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for Wentworth talking about delusions of grandeur is out of order because it is against the standing order on irony.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the member for Grayndler tries that again, he will be out immediately.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The symptoms of this condition include loss of hearing, denial of reality, shouting abuse at unpredictable moments and lack of empathy for people on lower incomes—hence, those afflicted by Conrovianism don't care that they were going to put the cost of broadband up by 80 per cent, $43 a month.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kingston will remove herself under 94(a).

The member for Kingston then left the chamber.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, could I have the clock back a bit? We lost a bit of time then.

Honourable members interjecting—

Madam Speaker, it is very hard to be heard. Seriously, this syndrome is—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If we have another outbreak like that, there will be several who will be removed immediately.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There may be no cure for Conrovianism for those who suffer from it—as we have seen today—but one of the virtues of the coalition's broadband policy is that it will at least stop the spread of Conrovianism. We commit to stopping its spread and to ensuring that in the future broadband policy is governed competently and prudently.