Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would also like to take note of answers given by Senator Coonan. Senator Conroy has told us a little about Labor’s broadband plan, but I really wonder just how they are going to get to what he thinks they are going to achieve. Labor’s so-called plan for a fibre-to-the-node network to 98 per cent of Australia is not a real plan; it is just a vague promise to seek industry views. The scary part of this is that they are going to raid the piggy bank—2.7 billion Telstra shares will be sold from our Future Fund to help with their $4.7 billion plan to build a high-speed broadband network throughout Australia.

There is no detail on how the fibre-to-the-node network is going to be rolled out to 98 per cent of the Australian population. We do not know what level of private sector investment will be involved, what regulatory arrangements are being contemplated, whether there will be appropriate access arrangements or how the public private partnership will work. These are just some of the questions that have not been answered. The plan provides no ideas on how Telstra’s cooperation would be obtained for any other competing carrier to submit a viable fibre-to-the-node proposal. Will a Labor government introduce heavy-handed legislation to compulsorily acquire those parts of Telstra’s network that would be essential for such a fibre-to-the-node plan? Labor has fixed on fibre-to-the-node as the only way of delivering high-speed broadband to all areas of Australia. I had a high-speed wireless network installed in my own home in rural Western Australia only last week. For once, I have brilliant access to my parliamentary website and I am able to get my emails while I am working at the farm. What about wireless networks, which will provide a far more efficient way of delivering these services?

Labor has not given any consideration to the effects of its proposal on existing broadband providers in regional Australia or the broadband infrastructure to be rolled out as part of the government’s Broadband Connect program. Labor’s plan involves the abolition of the $2 billion Communications Fund, which is the lifeline for future communications services in regional Australia. But perhaps the most glaring problem with this plan is the fact that it is based on robbing the bush of the $2 billion Communications Fund and stripping a further $2.7 billion from the Future Fund. I am all for targeted assistance funding for broadband but the government has spent or allocated well over $1 billion already on broadband funding alone.

Even Senator Conroy had to admit, when grilled at an industry conference last year, that Labor never really thought that their funding would be enough and that he would have to sit down and work it out. By the sound of what he said today I do not think he has worked it out. A fibre rollout in South Korea cost the South Korean government $US40 billion. Australia’s land mass is so much greater than South Korea’s, yet Labor think $4.7 billion of government funding will be enough. Labor are assuming that the total cost will be about $8 billion. How do they know that it will be sufficient?

At the end of his speech Senator Conroy mentioned Australian Broadband Guarantee and transitional arrangements. I think it is important that I note today that the $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee will provide universal broadband for all Australians. Anyone unable to gain a reasonable level of broadband service at their principal place of residence or small business can receive a subsidised broadband service. Where I live this is very important. It is also very important for those black spots in regional towns.

The Australian Broadband Guarantee builds on the achievements of the highly successful HiBIS and the Broadband Connect subsidy program, which have already provided broadband access to over one million Australian premises. The Australian Broadband Guarantee will particularly target difficult black spot areas to ensure that all Australians can access affordable broadband regardless of where they live. (Time expired)