Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

The scale of the project, as I said, and as we all know, is unprecedented. What took the PMG, Telecom and Telstra the best part of 70 years to do will be completed in just a handful of years with the NBN.

In this year alone, more than two million homes and businesses will be directly touched. The NBN is investing close to $30 million in skills capability for the telco industry. School leavers are being recruited into the workforce, and training is being offered right across the country to upskill field technicians who will build and maintain the new broadband network. To date, more than 2,300 workers have received accredited training and upskilling, and many thousands of jobseekers have entered the industry. The NBN is a terrific national venture, not just in terms of connecting Australians but also in terms of employing Australians and skilling Australians.