Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. Can the minister please inform the Senate of the lifespan of a fibre-optic cable?

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

I congratulate Senator Kroger on her question and for other matters. I am sure Senator Kroger is referring to the issue of the life of fibre. As I have said many times, fibre-optic cable can last for between 30 and 50 years and in recent times newer fibre cable can last even longer. I am sure Senator Kroger will next quote the new member for La Trobe, Ms Smyth, who got, can I say, a little tongue tied. She has clarified her comments today—Senator Kroger may not have been given the update. She has clearly indicated that she was talking about the delays that your party have been pushing to ensure that Australians do not get faster and more affordable broadband.

Yes, to be absolutely clear, fibre-optic cable when laid can last for 30 to 50 years and the more recent fibre deployments can last even longer. But it will not last long enough to outlive what will probably be the opposition’s 50th or 60th failed broadband plan by the time a piece of fibre gets to the end of its life. Let us be clear: the properties of fibre-optic cable are that it moves at the speed of light, unlike HFC, unlike copper and unlike wireless. But those opposite want to condemn the Australian public—they want to condemn the people of Willunga, they want to condemn the people of Brunswick, they want to condemn the people of Tasmania—to a second-rate network while the rest of the country— (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I thank Senator Conroy for trying to pre-empt my supplementary question, although like many things they do not exactly get everything right. Can the minister inform the Senate what costings of the maintenance of the NBN have been included in the modelling of the NBN or is this just another example of one of Labor’s famous back-of-the-envelope costings designed to waste billions of hard earned taxpayer dollars?

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

You really should not use Piers Ackerman as your laws-of-physics source, because Mr Ackerman continues to be completely wrong. He is wrong in his claim about fibre, because he is one who has also made that claim. He is actually dead wrong. He could not be more embarrassingly wrong except if you read his next paragraph. Each one gets more embarrassing as it goes along, but he has made this ludicrous claim about the cost of maintenance of fibre. It lasts past 30 years and in many cases the latest fibre lasts past 50 years.

Yes, there is some maintenance, but let me tell you it is an awful lot less than the maintenance program for the deployed copper network that Telstra have to pay. The cost of maintaining that copper network approaches nearly $1 billion a year. We are all familiar with the stories about Telstra having to use a gel in the more humid areas of Queensland because the copper is literally degrading in the ground. So, when it comes to the cost of maintenance, copper far exceeds that of fibre-optic cable. (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. It has been reported that emergency call centres will not be able to identify where a triple-0 call was placed on the VOIP model. Can the minister guarantee that under the NBN the location of all emergency calls will be able to be identified automatically without the call centre having to rely on all the information being provided by the distressed caller?

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

Again, the opposition is operating under a misapprehension. If people want an analog phone, we will continue to provide exactly what people want. So people will have the capacity to maintain their existing phones if they want. The only way that it can be given up is if they decide it should be given up, but the NBN does not require this. The NBN will allow the capacity for an analog phone exactly as is used today, in exactly the same way that it is used today, if people so choose. There is no suggestion the NBN is forcing people to give up their fixed line, their analog phone. That is again another of those furphies that those opposite are trying to use to try to discredit the National Broadband Network. What you have to continue to understand is the NBN is a wholesale-only company. It does not provide retail services. (Time expired)

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

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. In addition to services that have already been delivered in Tasmania, services are shortly to go live in five first-release sites in mainland Australia—

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Senator Conroy interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Conroy, I am waiting to hear the question that is being asked of you.

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

and are to commence in a further 19 second-release locations early next year. Can the minister inform the Senate what other progress has been made in construction of the National Broadband Network on the mainland?

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

I thank Senator Sterle for his ongoing interest in this nation-building initiative. Just eight months ago I was in Mount Isa in Queensland to mark the start of the work to lay 6,000 kilometres of optical-fibre backbone links targeting six priority regional areas that were identified by the ACCC as having the least competitive backhaul across Australia. These links, coordinated under the $250 million Regional Backbone Blackspots Program, provide the communications links that connect our towns, our cities and our rural areas to each other and the world. It is a critical input for the delivery of affordable broadband services to residents and businesses in regional Australia and represents the first building blocks of the NBN on mainland Australia.

I am happy to announce that, last Thursday, I celebrated the halfway mark in the delivery of this important infrastructure. In fact, to be accurate, we have now completed 60 per cent of this fibre rollout, and the first links are scheduled to be completed on time and on budget in March next year. This demonstrates that the Gillard government is getting on with delivering the National Broadband Network for all Australians, no matter where they live, and that the Gillard government is serious about closing the digital divide, while those opposite—and some should know better if they listen to their electorate—seek only to delay and demolish this essential national infrastructure. Those opposite who continue to try to delay this, who continue to try to delay the people of Geraldton in Western Australia— (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. In addition to providing critical backhaul infrastructure to the National Broadband Network in regional areas, what are the more immediate benefits of these links? In particular, what can people who live in regions between Perth and Geraldton, in south-west Gippsland, between Victor Harbour and the Adelaide Hills, between Broken Hill and Mildura and between Darwin, Longreach, Emerald and Toowoomba expect when these links are completed next year?

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

Given our nation’s vast expanses, lack of competitive backbone services have been a significant problem for many years. Market evidence shows that, where there are no competitive backbone services, telecommunications costs are significantly higher and consumers and businesses have less choice and competition of services. For example, the Northern Territory and the Western Australian governments have stated that, where there is no competition, backbone costs are between 250 per cent and 700 per cent higher. Overall these links will deliver lower prices and greater choice in competition to around 400,000 people across regional Australia in over 100 different locations, and as Ken Fraser from South Gippsland— (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister identify any alternative plans for getting on with the job of providing critical backbone infrastructure in regional Australia?

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

It is a difficult question to answer which Senator Sterle has just posed, because I can in fact identify 19 alternative plans that those opposite had from opposition. Their 19th plan did make a commitment to a backhaul program, a commitment for which 98.5 per cent of funding was not available until June 2013. Let me repeat that: those opposite made a big song and dance that they had a broadband plan and a plan for regional Australia, and 98.5 per cent of the funding they promised was not available in the entire first term of their would-be government. In contrast, we will be lighting up links in March next year. However, I cannot tell you what their possible 20th broadband plan might hold for regional Australia. Their credentials will soon be put to the test. (Time expired)