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

I seek leave to incorporate Senator Eggleston’s speech as agreed to by the whips.

Leave granted.

Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

Today I would like to speak on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Protecting Services for Rural and Regional Australia into the Future) Bill 2007.

This bill is to amend the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 and while not a very large or complex bill, it is very important for the communications future of rural, regional, and remote Australia.

What this Bill does is help protect the $2 billion Communications Fund so that it can continue in the future to generate a reliable income stream that can be put into improving the telecommunications services in rural, regional, and remote areas.

This Bill represents part of the comprehensive telecommunications policies developed by this government since coming into power to improve telecommunications around the country and ensure that no one is denied the benefits of developing technology.

In 1998, this government made clear its intention of conducting an independent inquiry to assess the adequacy of telecommunications services in metropolitan, regional, rural and remote areas.

This inquiry, the Besley Inquiry, reported in September 2000, that aspects of services in rural and remote Australia were inadequate.

The report recommended that government ‘continue to provide financial and strategic assistance to ensure that those currently disadvantaged—especially in regional, rural and remote Australia—are able to take their place in an information society’.

The government accepted this report and took steps towards better addressing people’s needs across Australia and much to its credit many improvements were made.

To make sure that needs were being met, the government initiated another inquiry in August 2002 which released its findings in June 2003.

The regional Telecommunications inquiry, also known as the Estens Inquiry, had revealed that while many issues that had been raised in the previous inquiry were being dealt with, there was still improvements to be made.

The government accepted all of the recommendations of the Estens Inquiry which specifically recommended that the government should provide funding for future service improvements in regional, rural and remote Australia.

This Bill will help address that recommendation.

As it stands, this bill will require that the Minister must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the sum of:

• Amounts standing to the credit of the Fund Account; and
• The value of investments of the Fund;

does not fall below $2 billion.

The Fund investment, under the permanent management, will focus on short-term, low-risk assets.

The interest from this, up to $400 million every three years, shall be put back into the bush to make sure that people outside of the cities are not left behind and can continue to reap the benefits of a quality telecommunications service.

This money will not be spent willy-nilly but it shall be in response to reviews that are to be conducted by the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee established under the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Future Proofing and Other Measures) Act 2005.

The first of these reviews is to commence in 2008 and they will take place every 3 years.

What this will give is an adaptive and flexible response to the needs of people in the bush.

This is very different to those on the other side who would like to simply take all this money, and a fair bit more from the Future Fund, much to the detriment of many Commonwealth public servants, and all for what?

To lay out across this huge country a singular technology as a one off, silver bullet for the telecommunications needs of all Australians in rural, regional and remote areas.

With Australia’s geographic conditions, one size does not fit all.

Rather, what is needed is a mix of technologies as is currently being delivered through the Australia Connected initiative.

This network will extend high-speed services to 99% of the population, and it will do so through a mix of fibre optical cabling, ADSL2+ and wireless broadband platforms.

Australia Connected is scheduled for completion in 2009 but the complexity of such a large project, combined with evolving technology, changing needs and the unique circumstances of individual cases means that funds will be required into the future so as to fill in any gaps that may appear.

We have all seen how technology changes and providing Australians, particularly those in rural, regional, and remote with access to that technology is not something we can do once and shelve.

We must respond as the situation requires and the funds generated by the Communications Fund will allow this.

Australians in the bush need good access to telecommunications, their needs are just as real as those of the city if not greater.

When a person or community is isolated, telecommunication services mean so much in so many ways, be it on the telephone, video-conferencing, or the internet.

By putting money aside for people in the bush, we are ensuring that distance is not their disadvantage and that they too can partake in the benefits of state-of-the-art technology.

Some of the benefits of being connected are more important for people in rural or remote settings than for others.

In some cases, it is their lifeline to the outside world, be it for education, health or business.

Access to adequate telecommunications is of great importance, it allows students across the country regardless of where they are to study more efficiently and tap into the vast information resources that are currently available.

It allows businesses to function better no matter what they are doing or where they are doing it.

Internet services are allowing a lot more people to work at home, this means greater lifestyle options for individuals and families.

If a person wants to carry out a business from their home, they should be able to, and they should be able to contact customers and suppliers and be able to search out new markets without being held back by their physical location.

In the case of Western Australia, the mining industry is growing and this is something that should not hold back either.

We cannot choose where our resources are to be located but we can choose to respond to the needs of Industry with the technology required.

A strong government response will mean that businesses in Australia will be armed with the tools necessary to not only survive but to provide first class competition on the world stage.

In terms of future needs, the development of new mineral resources and also the potential development of agriculture in the North means that we cannot accurately predict when and were telecommunication investment will be required.

I am sure that the tax payers of Australia will be happier knowing that when those needs are identified and investment is needed that the good economic management of this government will mean that there is already around $133 million a year for investment.

Putting it another way, there is $133 million that people will not need to fork out through higher taxes.

Now this Communications Fund exists only due to the strong economic management of this government and this legislation carries on that management by reassuring the people of Australia that if any future government wants to put its hand in the cookie jar, it cannot do it behind anyone’s back and any such move would require the scrutiny of both houses of this parliament.

It would have been hard to imagine in 1996 when this government came into power that we would talking today about securing a $2 billion Communications Fund.

Back then, setting up such a fund would have blown out government debt from $96 billion to $98 billion.

We have come along way since then and we are continuing to grow strongly but to make sure that we can do this we need to be prepared and part of being prepared is giving people and business access to telecommunications services no matter where they are.

Whether you are talking about a farmer on the Ord River in Western Australia or a stockbroker in Sydney, you are looking at two business people that need quality telecommunications services to function well.

This government has always supported business regardless of where it carries out its activities.

This Bill will help continue with that egalitarian support and to show people in rural, regional, and remote areas that we will be there for them. I support this bill and commend it to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a third time.