Regions wait, and wait, for Labor to act on broadband
15th September, 2009
The Federal Government must guarantee that its Telstra break-up proposals will not result in poorer telecommunication services to regional Australia, the Leader of the Nationals and Shadow Regional Development Minister, Warren Truss, said today.The future of Telstra Countrywide and basic telephone services to low revenue customers after Labor has imposed its new telecommunications model must also be addressed.
The Government has done no analysis whatsoever on what it wants to achieve by spending up to $43 billion of taxpayer’s money on a broadband network, and has created mass confusion with its announcement today.
“This must be the fourth or fifth attempt by the Government to salvage its ill-thought through broadband election promise,” Mr Truss said.
“The Government’s proposals do not fill me with confidence when the relevant minister says ‘let’s pretend 43 was an actual figure’. The whole broadband fiasco seems to be just a game of pretend for Labor.
“For the benefit of Communication Minister Stephen Conroy and his colleagues, the $43 billion proposed to build the broadband network is an astounding amount of money.
“Whether the Government spends that much money or some other amount, taxpayer’s need to have some idea what they will get and how long the associated debt will take to pay off. And even after spending that much, it seems as many as two million people living in regional Australia will miss out.
“So far, Labor’s record on broadband is dismal. The Government has dithered for two years, robbing regional people of the Opel fast broadband system that the Coalition put in place but Labor cancelled.
“Right now, almost every person living in the regions could have had access to fast broadband. But Labor stopped all that, without any idea of where it is going.
“Prior to the election Labor promised it would connect 98 percent of Australians to fibre optic broadband at a cost of $4.7 billion beginning in 2008. Now Labor’s promise only applies to 90percent, the cost has blown out to $43 billion and the network will not be completed until at least 2018.
“Already two million Australians in regional areas have been excluded from Labor’s broadband promise and today’s latest Telstra announcement will leave many in despair that will ever get faster broadband technology.
“There are many other aspects of the Government’s proposal that will need close consideration by the Coalition. What is certain today is that Telstra’s nine million customers, 1.4 million shareholders and 30,000 employees are utterly bamboozled by today’s announcement,” Mr Truss said.
