Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

One of the very interesting things about fibre is that it has not been a commercial success anywhere in the world. It has not had much of a commercial return. Even Telstra’s estimates were very low. We have to ensure that the market does what the market will do. There are currently two fibre proposals being looked at. Then we have to ensure that, regardless of where people live in rural and regional Australia, they will not be dudded—that they will get the services they need, together with a future fund and a communications fund that will ensure that liabilities going forward will be met and that they will have access to better services as they come on-stream. It is very important for people listening to question time to know that this government is absolutely committed to ensuring that rural and regional Australia continue to get the benefits of targeted investment and that we will not step back from providing it.