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

I thank Senator Macdonald for his ongoing interest. It is important for those opposite to read all of the OECD report and not just selectively quote it. The report released by the OECD yesterday concludes that the National Broadband Network has the potential to yield substantial benefits, especially in terms of productivity, and that it will improve internet services for the entire population—something those in the far corner used to believe in—and will promote fairer competition between private firms on retail services. The OECD states that the National Broadband Network is a far-reaching reform project that has been undertaken to fill the gaps in the broadband internet sector.

Through the NBN the Gillard government is ensuring that every Australian, no matter where they live, has access to affordable high-speed broadband. This was confirmed by the OECD’s report which again, if you do not take selective quotes, states that the NBN will avoid the risk of a geographic digital divide as it will cover the entire population, whereas if it were done by the private sector it would be done more gradually and only to the most densely populated areas. I recommend it to you, Senator Joyce. The OECD report also outlined that recent research suggests that the use of the new network can bring large savings, between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent of GDP, to the cost of public services over a 10-year period in just four areas—health care, education, transport and electricity—which on its own would warrant the construction. So the OECD says that just in those four sectors— (Time expired)