Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank you, Senator Williams, for your question and recognise your advocacy to deliver greater communications for rural and regional Australia.

This morning I was able to stand with NBN Co, who are developing a new product, the Sky Muster Plus, which is going to deliver not only faster broadband but also, importantly, unmetered data to rural and regional homes and businesses. It might sound very old age to those of us in the chamber, but they're going to be using this for web browsing, emails, software updates, internet banking, reading the news, staying in touch with family and friends and accessing vital services, such as telehealth, that won't end up contributing to their monthly cap, because right now they do. It means people are getting up at 2 am to put in their BAS statement on their cattle station. It is incredibly important. When kids come home, they can't do the appropriate education pieces. Importantly, during drought, they're unable to access essential telehealth services. Having unmetered data for those regional communities is incredibly important and it is being welcomed right around the board.

Today, I was able to demonstrate the benefits of Sky Muster satellite, chatting with Kristy Sparrow, the founding member of Better Internet for Rural, Regional and Remote Australia. She and her husband run 5,000 head, in good times, on a 40,000 acre property up in Alpha, Senator O'Sullivan, in Queensland. She has been a tireless advocate for better internet services for the bush. It's been critical for her to be able to educate her two young children by distance education over the years. The Liberal-National government is investing $2 billion into the NBN Sky Muster satellite network, and this brings vital digital connectivity to our most isolated Australians. Thirty per cent of Australians don't live in capital cities, and we produce 70 per cent of our nation's exports.