Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I always love hearing Senator Cameron ranting and raving on, because I was one of the ones who sat here for six years and watched the most dysfunctional government that this country has ever seen—six years of Labor. The Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government was supported by the Greens political party in all those six years. Now we hear Senator Cameron lecturing us about good governance!

In taking note of this document, which is the Australian government's response to the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee's report, Regional telecommunications review 2015, can I say, again, that I can only be amused at Senator Cameron's defence of his colleague Senator Conroy. Senator Conroy wrote out the policy for the NBN on the back of a beer coaster in a VIP plane, travelling, I think, somewhere between Cairns and Sydney. This was the Labor Party's famous NBN proposal. If you looked at the proposal that Senator Conroy put forward—and I did: I sat on many a committee trying to help Senator Conroy make something out of it—you would realise that the policy had no thought, nothing for Australians, in particular, and certainly nothing for regional Australians.

By contrast, Mr Turnbull, when he was the communications minister, tried to fix Senator Conroy's NBN mess, and he did a great job in doing that. Senator Fifield, as the minister, is getting the NBN doing what is needed by Australia.

I draw the Senate's attention to the work we have done in rural and regional Australia in telecommunications. In particular, I am very, very pleased to highlight an announcement made by the government only a couple of weeks ago where money was provided to the Burke Shire Council way up there in the corner of north-west Queensland. The coalition government provided millions of dollars to build a fibre-optic cable between Doomadgee, an Aboriginal community up in the north-west, and the town of Burketown. That will make such a difference to everybody in that particular locality.

The new satellite is about to come on stream. The NBN is being rolled out in a sensible way and is achieving things for regional Australia. To have to sit here and listen to a lecture from Senator Conroy's colleague on the NBN is just ludicrous. I was not going to participate in this debate, but as soon as I see Senator Cameron get to his feet, I think: 'This will be good entertainment; it will be good humour.' There will not be a skerrick of truth in it, but it is always good to come along for a laugh. Occasionally, we need laughs in this joint. When Senator Cameron speaks, you are always sure to have a good laugh. What Labor did with the NBN in telecommunications in Sydney sort of stopped at parliament house—that is about as far as Labor was concerned.

The coalition government has made real advances in telecommunications, particularly in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia—parts of Australia that the Labor Party do not even know exist. I do not think they have a member anywhere in rural and remote Australia. They used to have a senator up in the north of Australia in Senator McLucas, but she has been done over by the factional bosses in the Labor Party and has been replaced by a male candidate, a union hack, from Brisbane. I cannot think of anyone from Labor in the north of Australia these days. It just shows the Labor Party's interest in the north and in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Congratulations to Malcolm Turnbull when he was the communications minister. Congratulations to Senator Fifield. Now it is double congratulations because not only are they making things work but they had to pick up the pieces from the Labor Party and turn it into something sensible. I am pleased to say they have done it, and they deserve the Senate's congratulations.

Question agreed to.