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

A lot of ‘whats’! Unlike the Labor Party, the Howard government knows that you simply cannot deliver a state-of-the-art, national broadband network by issuing a press release. You cannot do it that way. It does take hard work and careful planning and management. We first announced funding for this initiative back in August 2005. We commenced a rigorous competitive assessment process in September 2006 to ensure that we achieved the best outcomes for Australians. That was many months before Labor woke up that broadband was an issue and had something to say about it and issued a press release.

On 18 June the Prime Minister and I announced Australia Connected, the latest milestone in our comprehensive policy of ensuring that all Australians have access to high-quality, affordable broadband wherever they live and wherever they work. The centrepiece of Australia Connected is the roll-out of the new competitive, state-of-the-art broadband network that will extend high-speed broadband services to 99 per cent of the population and provide speeds of 12 megabits per second by mid-2009. These speeds are 20 to 40 times faster than those in use by most consumers today and will be delivered in the country at metro comparable prices.

Unlike the Labor Party, our agreement with OPEL will be signed sooner than the five years it will take for the Labor Party to deliver anything at all, because the Labor Party has said that Australians will be waiting around till 2013. This government thinks that consumers are going to need fast broadband before 2013, which is why we have developed a new, comprehensive, wholesale network—the OPEL network. It will be a network that will have the characteristics claimed for it. It will be a network that will be fully tested. Following negotiations—