Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I refer the minister to her comments on ABC TV yesterday that Australia’s broadband infrastructure is ‘okay at the moment but it won’t be in the future’. Does the minister believe that it is okay at the moment that Australia’s use of broadband ranks just 17th out of 30 surveyed countries in the OECD? Does the minister believe that it is okay that currently more than 100,000 Australians have their applications for broadband rejected every year? Does the minister believe that it is okay that nine per cent of the businesses in Victoria are not able to access broadband? Minister, is your government so arrogant and out of touch that you do not recognise that Australia’s broadband is not okay?