David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Coming to the actual subject of this motion, the only promise that has been broken here is the promise that the Labor Party made to the people of Australia prior to the 2007 election—namely, that they would deliver and build an NBN that would be finished in 2013, for $4.7 billion. We all know that under Labor the timeframe and the cost blew out horribly.

The rollout in Tasmania last year—even when they did get it going, and it was at a much higher cost—ground to a halt in the middle of last year, due to Labor's incompetence. Labor has also peddled the line that the NBN is free. There is nothing free about the NBN. Under Labor's plan taxpayers were on track to foot a $73 billion bill—that is, seventy-three thousand million dollars—and increased monthly internet bills, by up to 80 per cent. That raises the issue of affordability, which if I have time I will touch on later.

Senators opposite appear to live in a world where blank cheques are doled out and money grows on trees. If it is somebody else's money they do not care about spending it. On this side of the chamber we actually take the decision to spend taxpayers' money responsibly, and we want to make sure we get the best possible outcome for the money we spend.

There is also a misconception that under Labor's proposal 100 per cent of premises will get optic fibre, right up to their doors. But of course that is not the case. Senator Polley was talking about e-health and people who might be able to take advantage of that in remote areas. People in remote Tasmania were not getting any fibre to their door. They were getting a mixture of wireless and satellite, and that will continue. We are delivering exactly the same outcome to people in those areas as they would have under Labor's plan. Under Labor they would get wireless and satellite and under us they will get the same, only they will get it a bit quicker. They will get it sooner than they would have under Labor. Tasmanian Labor senators, most of whom seem to be here, did not seem too concerned when they were in government—

Opposition senators interjecting—

You are showing concern now, but when you were in government you did not show concern about the fact that the NBN practically stopped under Labor. In the middle of last year it stopped, and it took a change of government to get it back on track in Tasmania.

I have a couple of general points on our mixed technology plan. Firstly, there seems to be a misapprehension that businesses, education and health will miss out on getting fibre to their premises. That is just not true. Senator Whish-Wilson and Senator Polley both made comments in their contributions about how there would be missed opportunities in business, health and education. Under our plan, every school, every hospital and every business hub will get fibre to the premises. So you are spinning things that just are not true if you suggest anything otherwise.

Further, under our plan approximately one-third of all Tasmanian premises will get fibre to their door. Fibre on demand means that anyone who is running a business from their home will be able to get fibre to their premises for a matter of a few thousand dollars, which, if you are running a business, is usually not the end of the world. But it certainly is available to you to do that. A lot of people will not do that, and I will tell you why in a minute. Where premises do not get fibre to the premises they will get fibre to the node. This is seriously upgraded compared with the broadband we have now. There is, I think, somewhat of an impression out there—and certainly the Labor Party are doing their best to foster it—that under our plan there will be no improvement and there will not be any super-fast broadband being delivered to premises around the country. The reality is that all premises under our plan will get super-fast broadband to their premises. That will come via fibre to the node, and then that will deliver super-fast broadband to houses, the last 400 metres or so using the copper network. In other countries that technology is delivering 100-megabit downloads and 40-megabit uploads. That technology is currently being used in other countries and it is delivering those speeds now. It is hard to conceive how a normal household could possibly use 100-megabit downloads or, alternatively, 40-megabit uploads.

Senator Polley interjecting—

Senator Polley interjects to talk about health. If you are getting 100-megabit downloads and 40-megabit uploads you will be able to do any of the e-health things that Senator Polley is suggesting. That is 10, 12 or 15 times faster than the fastest broadband you can get using the existing copper that is in the ground now. This will increase the speed 10 or 15 times. So it is hard to conceive how a household—