Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to speak tonight on a matter that is a manifestation of the continuing litany of broken promises of the Abbott-Turnbull government and its complete disregard for the needs of our rural areas. Let me begin this sad story of broken promises with the recent experience of the Diamantina and Barcoo shire councils, located in Central Queensland.

I recently had the great honour of being invited to visit Barcaldine to speak at the Outback Queensland Tourism Awards and to present the lifetime membership awards for four worthy participants in the tourism industry of Western Queensland. In fact I think I was the only politician present on the evening, which was held at the Australian Workers Heritage Centre in Barcaldine. I guess it is for that reason that I can claim credit for the record rainfall that occurred in Barcaldine overnight! In the 24 hours to 9 am on Sunday morning, 1 November, 105 millimetres fell. That was a record rainfall for the area.

During the course of my stay in Barcaldine that particular weekend, because of the rainfall there was a period of time when I was waiting to travel to Longreach to catch my flight back to Brisbane, because the roads were cut by the rising waters, and I had to spend some time at the local bakery in Barcaldine. It was there that I ran into the mayor of Barcoo, Julie Groves, who happened to be there having a cup of coffee. We got to talking about a number of issues, and Ms Groves spoke to me about her great disappointment in terms of the funding for telecommunications in her area.

After a decade of constant lobbying, Ms Groves, the mayor of Barcoo, and Geoff Morton, the mayor of Diamantina, thought they had secured a plan that would future-proof their drought-affected regions. This was a plan that would lift their shires into the 21st century and, once and for all, bring them into the globalised economy that we in the cities take for granted. The cost was small—only $22 million was required to lay fibre optic cable to the towns in their shires, including Birdsville, Bedourie, Windorah, Stonehenge and Jundah, and the amount they were seeking from the then Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, and his communications minister was only $8.5 million.

Just to paint the picture a little more clearly, almost all of the area covered by these shires has no mobile coverage. Under the current government's plan to restrict rural regions to satellite and fixed wireless, they will still lack the capability to support vital high-bandwidth services such as e-health, education and government services. Not only that, but rural regions like Diamantina and Barcoo fear that they are being overlooked by the growing drive-by tourist market, which increasingly requires connectivity everywhere, anytime.

I think it is important to note the importance of the tourism industry in Western Queensland at the moment. As I indicated, it is a drought-affected area, and tourism is one of the industries which is keeping many of the towns of Western Queensland going because people visiting the towns generate income in the local areas.

But I want to take you further with this, Mr Acting Deputy President. At the time, our magnanimous Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, made a surprising gesture of generosity in May when, on a visit to the drought-afflicted Longreach, he met with Geoff Morton, the mayor of Diamantina, who put the case for broadband to the Prime Minister.

You can imagine how excited Geoff and Julie, the two mayors, were when they heard that the Prime Minister had pledged $7 million to their broadband project. It was less than the $8.5 million they were asking for, but they were willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure that the broadband project would go ahead.

Can you imagine their dismay, just two months later, when they received news that, instead of being guaranteed funding for the broadband project, they would need to apply under the competitive arrangements of the Stronger Regions Fund. The Stronger Regions Fund was the very fund that had already knocked them back in its first round and which had led to their desperate plea to Mr Abbott in Longreach.

I should mention here that Ms Groves was quite concerned about the treatment that she had received, because she had shaken the hand of Mr Abbott, she had looked him in the eye and he had promised to deliver the $7 million for their broadband project. She was absolutely disappointed and very confused and surprised that a Prime Minister, having done so, and having visited the area, could clearly go back on a promise after a period of two months. I also need to point out that the current Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, as communications minister, responsible for the rollout of broadband, was already part of this broken promise before he assumed the reins of this government and its failed broadband network delivery.

As a backbench senator for Queensland, I have a personal concern for rural Queensland. Since obtaining office, I have made visiting rural and regional Queensland a priority. This has made me realise the extent to which the needs of these regions are being ignored by the current federal government. When I travelled to Longreach and Barcaldine to address the Outback Queensland Tourism Awards, I was shocked by the extent to which these regions are affected by the drought. Given that the regions around Barcaldine are some of the largest cattle producing regions in Central Queensland, the drought poses a very real and significant threat to the prosperity of the region and the state as a whole. Despite some significant rainfall events in parts of Queensland, most of the 2014-15 wet season was poor, leading to 80.35 per cent of Queensland being drought declared. Because of this, graziers are destocking, small businesses are closing down and families have to leave behind their properties that have been held for generations.

My time in rural and regional communities such as Barcaldine has made me realize that services in these communities are second rate to the services provided to my constituents in the city. I do not believe that the current government is addressing this issue. Only Labor understands that access to the National Broadband Network is essential to all Australians, no matter the location. In communities without access to NBN, an imminent concern is that overseas trained GPs in these communities may leave rural locations in Queensland, due to substandard internet access. According to the Australian Rural Doctor, overseas doctors working at Outback Medical Services in Barcaldine have been left unable to complete their online training modules because they have no internet at home. Our substandard internet in these regions is a mockery to the developed world. According to one GP at the practice, 'If this internet issue is not resolved and it stays on like this and my family is not happy, then I have to think of something else basically. We have to see other options.'

The loss of doctors will be a devastating blow to places such as Barcaldine. The people of Central Western Queensland deserve access to reliable internet on par with the cities. I have already described the travesty that occurred between the Abbott/Turnbull governments and the mayors of Barcoo and Diamantina.

Queensland farming groups are sick and tired of calling upon the Prime Minister, the former communications minister, Mr Turnbull, to implement the recommendations of the 2015 Regional Telecommunications Review. The productivity of regions in Western Queensland depends on access to internet coverage and adequate phone reception. According to a recent AGForce survey of 2016 grain farmers and sheep and cattle producers, poor mobile phone reception and internet coverage were key issues that affected the productivity of working the land.

Community television, a service that is important to regional Australia, is about to become history in another broken promise of the Abbott/Turnbull government. Despite promising before the 2013 election not to cut the ABC or the SBS, they have already lost $43.5 million dollars. Community television will be forced off the air at the end of 2015 and will instead apparently be available to view on the internet. But, without the internet, no rural regions will be able to access it.

It is important that in order to unlock the economic and social potential these regions bring to the state, and to the nation as a whole, we need to address the lack of adequate communications infrastructure. The Abbott/Turnbull government, led by a coalition of Liberals and those who apparently represent regional Australia, the Nationals, has been nothing but a catastrophe for the development of policies that advance the interests of rural and regional Australia. Labor stands ready to fix the mess left by the disastrous policies and cuts supported by the Abbott/Turnbull led coalition.