Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (Senator Coonan) to questions without notice asked today relating to communications and broadband.

Once again we see a government that is in denial. If you look at just some of the commentary in today’s papers, you see that it spans right across the political spectrum. Terry McCrann writes:

Labor has caught both the Government and Telstra flat-footed with its entirely unexceptional and really quite sensible plan to co-build a national broadband network.

The prime minister’s response was shrill and silly ...

…         …         …

Earth to PM: trying to characterise a plan for a 21st century broadband network as having “no regard for the future” was sort of clunky with a capital C.

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The sum to be spent over a period of five years is almost exactly the same in relative terms as the $2.3 billion committed over four years in the 2006 Budget for additional funding of road and rail infrastructure.

He goes on:

John Howard commits $600 million a year for 20th century road and rail. Kevin Rudd commits a similar sum for 21st century broadband. What was that about having regard for the future?

This is a government that is in desperate shape and is clutching at any straw whatsoever. Just so we have it on the public record, since 2002, the Howard government has launched the following broadband programs—and it is a long and pathetic list: the Telecommunications Action Plan for Remote Indigenous Communities, the Australian Research and Education Network framework, the Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme, the National Broadband Strategy, the National Broadband Strategy Implementation Group, the Coordinated Communications Infrastructure Fund, the demand aggregation broker program, the Metropolitan Broadband Blackspots Program, the Broadband for Health program, the Broadband for Health: Pharmacy program, the NBSIG Australian government action plan, the Clever Networks program, the Broadband Connect subsidy program, the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program, the Communications Fund, the Broadband Blueprint and, most recently, the Broadband Guarantee. That is only since September 2002.

This is a government that is treating Australians with contempt. It is a government that refuses to accept that a national high-speed broadband network is a critical piece of infrastructure that this country desperately needs. It is in shambles after years and years of the government walking around, taking out the political pork barrel at the behest of Senator Boswell, Senator Joyce or its own regional members of parliament, and just throwing billions of dollars out there. Billions of dollars have been thrown out there and what have we got? We are ranked 17th in the OECD and we are going backwards. We need a national broadband network. We need it so that our children have access to the most powerful educational and research tool ever invented by mankind. We need it so we can deliver the e-health initiatives and the remote viewing for aged people who need to be monitored by health professionals. That is why we need a national broadband network. That is why Robert Gottliebsen today said ‘Howard wrong-footed by Rudd’s net quickstep’. He also said:

… the community should celebrate because at least one of our major parties now understands that in three to five years a change is coming to the internet that will make current practices akin to the crystal sets that were the forerunner to radio and the 17-inch black and white TV sets that led to today’s flat-screen TVs.

Elizabeth Knight in the Sydney Morning Herald writes:

The general principle of the Labor strategy is fairly compelling for the simple reason it recognises the dire need for Australia to improve information technology infrastructure to move up the productivity curve relative to its international trading competitors.

We have a government that just does not get it. We have a government that is mired in the 20th century. We have a Prime Minister that is stuck in the 20th century. Tragically, he is taking his party with him. Kevin Rudd recognises that we need 21st century infrastructure, unlike Senator Boswell, who is in denial on this issue. (Time expired)

Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to take note of answers given by Senator Coonan. Senator Conroy has told us a little about Labor’s broadband plan, but I really wonder just how they are going to get to what he thinks they are going to achieve. Labor’s so-called plan for a fibre-to-the-node network to 98 per cent of Australia is not a real plan; it is just a vague promise to seek industry views. The scary part of this is that they are going to raid the piggy bank—2.7 billion Telstra shares will be sold from our Future Fund to help with their $4.7 billion plan to build a high-speed broadband network throughout Australia.

There is no detail on how the fibre-to-the-node network is going to be rolled out to 98 per cent of the Australian population. We do not know what level of private sector investment will be involved, what regulatory arrangements are being contemplated, whether there will be appropriate access arrangements or how the public private partnership will work. These are just some of the questions that have not been answered. The plan provides no ideas on how Telstra’s cooperation would be obtained for any other competing carrier to submit a viable fibre-to-the-node proposal. Will a Labor government introduce heavy-handed legislation to compulsorily acquire those parts of Telstra’s network that would be essential for such a fibre-to-the-node plan? Labor has fixed on fibre-to-the-node as the only way of delivering high-speed broadband to all areas of Australia. I had a high-speed wireless network installed in my own home in rural Western Australia only last week. For once, I have brilliant access to my parliamentary website and I am able to get my emails while I am working at the farm. What about wireless networks, which will provide a far more efficient way of delivering these services?

Labor has not given any consideration to the effects of its proposal on existing broadband providers in regional Australia or the broadband infrastructure to be rolled out as part of the government’s Broadband Connect program. Labor’s plan involves the abolition of the $2 billion Communications Fund, which is the lifeline for future communications services in regional Australia. But perhaps the most glaring problem with this plan is the fact that it is based on robbing the bush of the $2 billion Communications Fund and stripping a further $2.7 billion from the Future Fund. I am all for targeted assistance funding for broadband but the government has spent or allocated well over $1 billion already on broadband funding alone.

Even Senator Conroy had to admit, when grilled at an industry conference last year, that Labor never really thought that their funding would be enough and that he would have to sit down and work it out. By the sound of what he said today I do not think he has worked it out. A fibre rollout in South Korea cost the South Korean government $US40 billion. Australia’s land mass is so much greater than South Korea’s, yet Labor think $4.7 billion of government funding will be enough. Labor are assuming that the total cost will be about $8 billion. How do they know that it will be sufficient?

At the end of his speech Senator Conroy mentioned Australian Broadband Guarantee and transitional arrangements. I think it is important that I note today that the $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee will provide universal broadband for all Australians. Anyone unable to gain a reasonable level of broadband service at their principal place of residence or small business can receive a subsidised broadband service. Where I live this is very important. It is also very important for those black spots in regional towns.

The Australian Broadband Guarantee builds on the achievements of the highly successful HiBIS and the Broadband Connect subsidy program, which have already provided broadband access to over one million Australian premises. The Australian Broadband Guarantee will particularly target difficult black spot areas to ensure that all Australians can access affordable broadband regardless of where they live. (Time expired)

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is very obvious that the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, in her responses to questions today, has not bothered to read today’s newspaper clippings or today’s newspapers, or she would have understood the broad positive response there has been to Labor’s initiative announced yesterday on broadbanding the nation.

Let me disabuse Senator Adams: it is not a vague promise; it is a bold plan for the future. We all know, or we should know, that the mining boom is not going to last forever. They never do. Booms come in and they go off. We need to put in place a plan now to secure the growth of this country into the future, irrespective of what happens with our commodities and our commodity sector. That is what Labor has done by taking the decision yesterday. We are looking ahead to the future.

The government have raised the issue that this is raiding the Future Fund—that it is a smash and grab raid. Well, what better way to use a future fund than to secure the future for our children? That is what Labor is about in putting this plan in place. It is estimated that the new network will deliver national economic benefits, including, for example, up to $30 billion in additional national economic activity a year, making Australian small businesses more competitive, creating new international and domestic markets for businesses, new jobs for Australians and greater media diversity.

A state-wide broadband network in New South Wales, for example, will boost the state’s economy by $1.4 billion a year, increase employment by 3,400 jobs after 10 years, and raise exports by $400 million over its first decade. This is going to deliver for Australia, not just New South Wales. Every state and every person in this country is going to benefit from Labor’s decision yesterday to look to the future and put in place a broadband fibre-to-the-node network that will be integral to our economic prosperity over the next 20 to 30 years. This network is a critical part of the base of our new economy. In the 19th century there were big nation-building activities like building railways. In the 21st century the biggest nation-building activity will be putting in place the broadband structure.

In reality, what have we seen this week? We have seen the sharp contrast between an ageing Prime Minister, who is talking about failed policies of the past, and Kevin Rudd, who is talking about bold policies for the future. That is the contrast we have seen this week between the leadership of the two major parties in this parliament. The contrast could not have been starker than it was yesterday in the debate over the broadband issue. The government is fighting old and unpopular battles while the Labor Party is looking forward to building a future for our kids.

We know that the knowledge economy is driven by access to information and that information is critical to our success in the future. We need fast, reliable access to the internet, which will be the driver of future growth in our economy. Investment in the future of broadbanding is essential. Last year, more than 100,000 people in this country applied for broadband but were turned down because of Australia’s second-class telecommunications infrastructure. The metropolitan broadband black spots program has been an abject failure.

What this government had done in this area is simply not good enough. That is why the Labor Party will invest $4.7 billion on the national broadband plan. This money will be an investment in the future prosperity of the nation. The plan will deliver access to broadband at a minimum speed of 12 megabits per second, a framework for a competitive new generation telecommunications infrastructure rollout and a foundation for future broadband infrastructure upgrades. This is responsible investment in the future. No-one can argue that this is a silly policy proposal. (Time expired)

Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was watching the broadcast from the Press Club yesterday when Senator Conroy had his moment in the sun announcing this policy. I suspect that not many people were watching that most lacklustre performance by Senator Conroy, but I was. That was either preceded or followed by Mr Rudd’s own press conference announcing this policy. This is a major policy announcement in an election year, with the election only eight months away or thereabouts. If this is what the Labor Party are going to put down as one of their keystone policies then so be it, because it can be picked to death.

One aspect of this—the raiding of the Future Fund—is, as the Treasurer described, the most reckless and dangerous policy announcement yet. I will get on to the Future Fund. Rest assured that we are not going to forget that or let up, because the mask has slipped—even the mask on Mr Rudd, who has studiously since coming to the leadership tried to play down the big problem that Labor has had in every single election: economic credibility. You finally got a leader who posed enough, faked enough and conned enough so that people started to think that perhaps there was not much of a difference between the government and the opposition on economics. Supposedly, now you believe in surplus budgets and in zero net debt and in all those other things that you did not support when we were fixing the economy over the last 10 years. Mr Rudd was sold to the public as being the economically responsible leader and the Messiah that the Labor Party has been waiting for for so long, but the mask has slipped.

There are four points that I want to make about this policy. First of all, we are already doing it. The hype, the spin and the con about the lack of broadband facilities in Australia are nothing more than that. This government are already putting some $4 billion towards connecting Australia. We have a $1.1 billion Connecting Australia package, and over $600 million of that has already been laid out. Just recently, we had a $162 million announcement from the minister, guaranteeing the connection of broadband. There is also the $2 billion rural and regional Communications Fund. I make the point that this is already being done. The evidence is there: 90 per cent of Australian households already have very high-tech broadband connections. Time does not permit me to develop that subject any more. It is already being done, so do not listen to the hype.

Secondly, the real losers from this policy announced by the Labor Party are going to be the very ones who need the overriding market support, because the market will not meet their needs: the people in the rural and regional sector. Labor have a commitment to abolish the $2 billion Communications Fund, set up with the money received through the sale of Telstra. That should be made clear to the rural and regional areas. To fund Labor’s new policy, the $2 billion Communications Fund will be abolished.

Thirdly, another point to be made about this absurd policy is that they will be spending government and taxpayer funds for a need that, in essence, the market ought to be meeting. Is it any wonder that Telstra—Mr Burgess, no less—came out yesterday and supported lock, stock and barrel Labor’s policy? Anyone who knows Mr Burgess would not be surprised by the comments that he made yesterday. Is it any wonder, when you are going to roll gold into what they and the market should be doing?

Fourthly is the most reckless part of this policy—and the Labor Party. It has not taken you long to revert to kind. Wasn’t it Mr Swan who warned against the raiding of the Future Fund by our coalition colleagues, the National Party? What a joke that is. You are already into the honey pot. What a disgraceful, reckless policy it is. You are spending the future superannuation and pensions of our public servants. You could not help yourselves, and you have not ruled out more raids on the fund. (Time expired)

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When Senator McGauran so dearly holds to his heart rural and regional Australia, his comments and contributions in this chamber never cease to amaze or amuse me. I am not sure if he had his National Party hat on or that of the mob that he ran across to when he ratted on them. As per normal, what a pack of psychobabble that was from Senator McGauran.

As I looked around the chamber trying to keep interested while I listened to that drivel, I noticed some children up in the gallery. They are who this is all about—our future generations. I want to congratulate Mr Rudd and Senator Conroy for their vision. This is about a nation-building project for the generations to come. Before we get all tied up in the ins and outs of how we dare talk about getting into the Future Fund, let us make no mistake: the stone was cast back in July 2005 when the government, with the help of the doormats—as usual—voted to get rid of Telstra. They could not wait to roll over and get their tummies tickled by selling out Telstra.

It is very important that we analyse what Mr Rudd has put forward. When we talk about $4.7 billion for a national high-speed broadband network, a lot of foresight has gone into this, particularly when we look at the $2.7 billion from the Future Fund. The best part about that vision is that that $2.7 billion will be paid back—the profits will go back into that fund. By the year 2020, that fund will be a $140 billion resource.

I would like to note some of the commentary in today’s media and the overwhelmingly positive reception given to Labor’s plan. It demonstrates once again the ideas and visions that Labor has, unlike the tired, worn-out government on the other side of the chamber. I would like to also make comment about the minister. What an absolute underperformance it was again, if I could use those words. I do not know how—

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She’s consistent!

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She is definitely consistent, Senator Campbell—she is consistently confused, there is no doubt about that. Look at the ministerial misbehaviours on the other side. I do not know what negatives Senator Conroy has, but I tell you, I wish I had them in my pocket. It is absolutely amazing that that minister can stand up and dribble on week after week and not answer one question. She talks for five minutes every time and says absolutely nothing. She is that confusing that even her side are embarrassed about it; you can see their heads buried in their laps.

I must give, once again, congratulations to Mr Rudd. Honestly, what is happening here is nation building. Let us not make any mistake about that. Those on the other side go on about how wonderful it is that 90 per cent of Australians have access to fast dial-up broadband. What an absolute load of rubbish! I invite Minister Coonan to come over to Western Australia—not on a jaunt where you have set meetings with cabinet but out to the seats in Perth, around Hasluck, up on the Darling Ranges—an area which Senator Adams knows very well. You only have to travel just over 20 minutes out of the Perth CBD and you cannot get access to broadband! Under our plan—Mr Rudd’s plan and Senator Conroy’s plan—98 per cent of Australians will have access to a national high-speed broadband network.

I would like to make another comment while I have the time. It brings me to an article today by Mr Sid Marris, a respected journalist with the Australian. The commentary in the media has been very positive. Mr Marris is no fool; he really can see what is going on. I want to quote some of his words. Mr Marris said:

Making broadband internet services as ubiquitous as the telephone could add up to $30 billion to the economy and deliver a rise in productivity by improving efficiency and creating new products and markets.

There is universal agreement that improving the speed and size of internet connections will be one of the key developments to turning around Australia’s sluggish productivity growth.

So, to Senator McGauran and those on the other side, I say: you have been asleep at the wheel. You are squandering Australia’s fortunes. There is no productivity growth where you come from. It is all very well to read the polls and make a snap decision about how you are going to throw a few million dollars here and there. Think about the future. That is what this is all about. Mr Rudd and Senator Conroy should be congratulated.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Parry interjecting—

Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Adams interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When Australia’s media is congratulating them no less than 12 hours after the announcement, if I were on your side, I would be worried too. Well done, Kevin. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.