Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Can the minister confirm that Tasmania has been totally excluded from the government’s five capital city fibre-to-the-node broadband network? Isn’t it true that, instead of getting a first-class fibre-optic system, many Tasmanians will have to put up with second-rate wireless broadband? Doesn’t the performance of wireless decline with distance, bad weather, hilly geography and the number of people using the service at any one time? Why should Tasmanians put up with a system that will not work properly if they live in a hilly area or it happens to be raining?