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

The competitive market has not delivered the broadband infrastructure this country needs in the 21st century—not in metropolitan Australia and not in regional Australia. It has especially failed in regional Australia. Unfortunately though that is not the view of those opposite. Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition wrote in the AFR that he will not spend money on the NBN when faster broadband can affordably be delivered more swiftly through a competitive market. We had 11½ years of the competitive market. We had 18 failed broadband plans from the competitive market. We had those opposite ensuring Australia was a broadband backwater, and that provoked even senators Nash and Joyce to write about why we should have fibre to our homes. (Time expired)