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

I am delighted to say that, in Tasmanian stage 1 communities, more than 50 per cent of people have asked for NBN to provide a fibre connection to their premises. On the mainland of Australia the response to the NBN has been even more enthusiastic. Construction has already commenced in the mainland first-release sites. In Townsville 57 per cent of premises have asked for a connection, in Minnamurra-Kiama Downs it is 74 per cent, in Willunga it is 84 per cent and in Armidale, in the electorate of New England, 87 per cent of premises have asked for an NBN fibre connection. Services will go live in these areas in the middle of next year. There is no doubt that this shows a strong hunger in the community for the high-speed fibre broadband services that the NBN offers. The Leader of the Opposition and those opposite need to explain to the people in regional towns like Willunga and Armidale why they do not deserve to have a world-leading broadband service. You have to explain why these people do not deserve a world-class broadband service.