Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Nothing about Labor's NBN was more scandalous than that it ignored the effect of the high prices that would be paid by poorer Australians. Statistics released by the ABS last week confirm that affordability is the single biggest barrier to broadband access in the home. The ABS found that households in the poorest income quartile were more than 10 times less likely to have access to the internet at home than those in the wealthiest quartile. The ABS also found that those in the top income bracket were more likely to access a smartphone or a tablet at home. This was true of 42 per cent of total households in the top income bracket compared with 24 per cent in the bottom bracket.

Labor's NBN treated the interests of the least-well-off households with contempt. We know from the NBN strategic report released in December that, if the NBN had been completed according to Labor's specifications, it would have led to an increase of— (Time expired)