Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move the amendment circulated in my name:

At the end of the motion, add “but the Senate condemns the Government for failing to invest the $2 billion Communications Fund in a national fibre to the node broadband network to ensure:

(a)

parity of service and metro comparable pricing for all Australians serviced by the fibre to the node network;

(b)

the state of broadband services in Australia is turned around, after the past 11 years of neglect under the Howard Government;

(c)

that Australians have access to the best available telecommunication technologies;

(d)

that Australians in rural and regional areas have improved telecommunication services, including access to e-health and e-eduction, which are only possible over a fibre to the node network—the interest earned on the Communications Fund (up to $400 million every 3 years) is not enough to ensure this;

(e)

that 98 per cent of Australians, including those in rural and regional areas, have access to future proof telecommunications technology; and

(f)

that the 2 per cent of people that the new fibre to node network will not reach have a standard of service, depending on the available technology, that is as close as possible to that provided by the new network”.