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

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Cyber Security and the Arts. I refer to the National Broadband Network. Will the minister now admit that fibre is better and more economical than copper?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the shadow minister for her question about the National Broadband Network. Let me remind the House of what Labor managed to achieve in their six years in government. The fact is that Labor failed to meet every target that they set—

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

The minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Point of order on direct relevance. The minister can't just press play on a monotone prepared answer no matter what he is asked.

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

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. I'm hoping the minister was making an introductory remark of a sentence or two, but the question was specific. I don't need any help. He needs to address himself to the subject of the question. The minister has the call.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When we came to government in 2013 and inherited a train wreck of a project, we chose the multitechnology mix because it would allow the NBN to be rolled out more quickly. I want to make three very important points about the strategy we followed. First, the multitechnology mix was quicker. It let us get to the point where, by 2020, 11.8 million premises are able to connect—99 per cent of premises are able to connect. And just imagine the mess Australia would have been in when millions of Australians overnight moved to studying and working from home, if we had still been going on the slow broadband plan we inherited from the other side. The second point is that the multitechnology mix was considerably cheaper. It saved $30 billion. The third point—and this is really important—is that, when we decided on the multitechnology mix, we said that, when demand reached the appropriate point, we would then upgrade the network when the demand conditions justified it.

The Labor Party finds it very difficult to understand the whole concept of developing a plan and methodically implementing the plan. But that's what we've done. That's what we've done, and that's why we now have 11.8 million premises able to connect and why we are now able to take the next stage in the development of the NBN, where eight million premises are going to be in a position to order a speed of up to one gigabit per second; and, indeed, 240 business fibre zones around the country, including 85 in regional Australia, where some 700,000 businesses will be able to order a business-grade optical fibre one-gigabit symmetrical service, and they'll be able to do it at the same price—NBN will charge the same price—as in our CBD areas.

We inherited a train wreck from people who had no clue how to manage a rollout. Over seven years we've systematically turned it around. We've got 99 per cent of premises able to connect and we can now move to the logical next step, and that is what exactly what we are doing, consistent with the plan we've followed for seven years.

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

The minister's time has concluded.