Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to relay some good news for some 2,345 businesses in the Menzies electorate which will benefit from cheaper and faster broadband with the NBN Co announcing the establishment of a business fibre zone at Eltham. This new zone will allow local businesses to access fibre with speeds up to one gigabyte per second, enabling a range of new business opportunities that previously weren't possible. This, of course, has the potential to revitalise and reshape the region, with services now being available that weren't in the past. Access to high-speed internet will allow local businesses to grow and thrive, break into new markets and secure long-term growth potential.

This announcement means an additional 60,000 eligible businesses across the nation, taking the total number of businesses within a business fibre zone to 850,000, of which nearly 300,000 businesses are in regional Australia. What would be the very best of news for businesses, both in my electorate and right around Australia, would be the end of these lockdowns and the opening up of the country. We're not going to eradicate the COVID virus, but we can manage it, and if we manage it that means the regaining of freedom for individuals, for workers and for businesses right around this country.