Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I refer the minister to the Howard government’s plans to send a direct mail-out to 3.1 million households in regional Australia to ‘raise awareness of the government’s initiatives for regional telecommunications’. Can the minister confirm that the purpose of this campaign is simply to promote the Howard government’s second-rate broadband fix? Isn’t it the case that this mail-out will include fridge magnets? Can the minister confirm that this mail-out is part of a $6.4 million advertising blitz to try to convince regional Australia that the Howard government’s broadband policy is not just a second-rate political fix to get it through to the next election?