Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister promised Australians that his second-rate copper NBN would be fast, affordable, sooner. Given we now know his second-rate copper NBN is slower than Labor's, has doubled in cost and was not delivered when he promised, when will the Prime Minister take any responsibility for the fact that his NBN is in fact slower, more expensive and late?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, representing the Minister for Communications.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to look further into the comparative records of the Labor Party and the coalition when it comes to rolling out the NBN, because it really is extraordinary that Labor keeps coming up and hitting their head against a brick wall on this particular topic. I think it is instructive to have a look at what Labor promised in the first NBN corporate plan, of 2011 to 2013. By 30 June 2011, there were to be 223,000 premises passed. What was the actual number passed? Ten thousand five hundred and seventy-five. That's less than 10 per cent. By 30 June 2012, there were to be 496,000 premises passed. How many premises were actually passed? Ninety five thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. By 30 June 2013, there were to be 1.7 million premises passed. They were really building confidence. Actually, it was 282,000. That is, on any assessment, a dismal record of rank incompetence.

It's also very instructive to look at what the NBN committed to when the coalition came to power and what has been delivered. What was committed by 30 June 2015 was 1.093 million. What was delivered was 1.165 million. By 30 June 2016, what was committed was 2.632 million. What was delivered was 2.893 million. By 30 June 2017, 5,442,000 premises were committed to be passed or covered; 5,713,000 premises were actually delivered. That is a very consistent record under the coalition government of consistently delivering what has been committed to, compared to the record under Labor of consistently, and by a very wide margin, failing to deliver on what was in the business plan.

Very few people on that side have worked in business. But many of us on this side have. We know that if you saw that kind of performance in the business world you'd be out, you'd be sacked, you'd be gone. That's what all of you deserve when it come to NBN.