Address to the House of Representatives, Bills - National Broadband Network Companies Amendment (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024

Tuesday 19 November 2024

I'm also pleased to be speaking in favour of the National Broadband Network Companies Amendment (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024 and support any move to keep the National Broadband Network in public ownership. Last night, when I thought I might be speaking on this bill, I listened to the member for Fadden liken this debate to a Seinfeld episode. The truth is that the previous government did want to sell off the NBN and that those opposite have form when they eye off critical public infrastructure. The truth is that the whole Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government's approach to broadband was like a decade-long episode of Utopia or The Thick of It. But it's Australians who have paid the price for their negligence over the last 10 years.

As a government, we are determined not to make the same mistakes as former coalition governments, who have mismanaged communications policy in Australia for decades.

It comes from that starting point of not actually caring—thinking that these debates are about nothing when they are actually critical to the Australia not just of the now but of the decades to come. As much as they protest and try to airbrush history, the Liberals have shown a pathological desire to sell off critical assets. We know that the former coalition government had taken the initial legislative steps to prepare their NBN for sale, including declaring the network built and fully operational in 2020.

I wholeheartedly support this bill and the goal of providing a solid foundation for communication policy in this nation long into the future. When John Howard was swept from office in 2007, he left Australia as a broadband backwater. For those that remember, the privatisation of Telstra was a terrible policy outcome driven by ideological zealotry. Crucially, the sale also deprived the government of strategic levers to drive the investment necessary for Australians to fully access reliable high-speed broadband and the productivity and digital inclusion benefits that delivers. Of course, that was a government that had no understanding that this wasn't just to be an entertainment vehicle. This was to be a vehicle that was to transform workplaces and the way we deliver services. It's understandable that, when governments lack vision, they don't understand why you need to invest in the future.

Of course, Labor's decision in 2008 to deploy a government owned national broadband network rightly took a long-term view of the needs of Australian consumers and taxpayers in a changing world. The NBN was built by Australians for Australians. It belongs to all Australians, and it belongs in public hands. The NBN is an essential piece of national utility infrastructure, helping people connect regardless of where they live or work. It doesn't care for what postcode they might be under or what region or state of the country that they live in. This was initiated by Labor with a positive vision for the future, delivering equity, access and opportunity combined with sound, long-term economics. It meant that Australians would enjoy world-class connectivity, carrying the digital economy for decades to come.

What happened next? Enter the neoliberal wrecking ball of the Liberals, who attacked public ownership and any policy idea associated with it. Just as they sold out Australia on the privatisation of Telstra, the coalition sold out Australia again. They abandoned fibre and instead deployed an almost absurd copper alternative for $29 billion. By May 2022, when the Albanese government was elected, the coalition's second-rate NBN was $28 billion over budget—nearly double the cost—was four years behind schedule and backflipping to fibre. As I said before, the former coalition government had taken the initial legislative steps to prepare their NBN for sale. This was their game plan. They also supported an NBN submission to increase wholesale prices on their products by CPI plus three per cent to bolster their income streams in preparation for the sale. It was Telstra all over again. Fortunately this was rejected by Labor and the ACCC.

For those members that genuinely seek to represent regional Australia, they should be cognisant that, in government consultation on regional telecommunication services, there has been strong and clear feedback from communities in rural and regional areas that the National Broadband Network should stay under government ownership. We've had quite a number of speakers who've gotten up and, whilst it's connected, have talked about challenges around mobile coverage and about dealing with black spots. There are challenges across the country. There are significant parts of my electorate where we're still working through those issues. It beggars belief that the same people who are effectively making these arguments don't support the NBN remaining in public hands.

Keeping the NBN in public ownership is essential to continue to provide modern, accessible and affordable communications services in Australia. The Albanese government understands this, and it's delivering its vision for a world-class, high-speed broadband network. Over $3 billion in NBN fibre and fixed wireless upgrades are being delivered on time and on budget. More than 70,000 kilometres of new fibre has been rolled out and over 2,300 fixed wireless towers have been upgraded.

Whilst today's debate about this bill is about our vision to secure the long-term policy settings of the nation, I would like to flag that I will continue to work with the NBN to better outcomes for households and businesses in my electorate of Bean. Much has been achieved, but there is still more to do, and I will not rest until we get the results that Bean deserves. It is good to see that suburbs like Gordon, Banks and Conder in the southernmost parts of the electorate of Bean are amongst the suburbs that can now access these higher upgrades that are happening right around the country.

The rollout of the NBN has correlated with downward pressure on the cost of communications in Australia, with an overall nine per cent decrease in communications prices from 2017 to 2024 compared to a 22 per cent CPI growth over that time. It is only by keeping the NBN in public ownership that that vision can continue to be delivered, and only the Labor government has committed to this vision.

But it's not just the government that supports this policy; consumers support it, and not just the regional consumers I talked about before. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network CEO, Carol Bennett, is on the record as supporting it. Workers support it. Shane Murphy, the Communication Workers Union national president, has publicly backed this move. These are the workers who work with this infrastructure every day. The industry representatives support it. For example, Optus interim CEO Michael Venter has said his company supports this initiative.

The Albanese government's position on the NBN is clear. In 2021, we made an election commitment to retain the NBN in public ownership, to keep broadband affordable and to complete building a world-class fibre network. In 2022, we formalised this commitment in a new statement of expectations for the NBN, and we have now introduced legislation to enshrine this position in law.

Labor understands the NBN is not just something that earns a rate of return; it's a critical piece of social and economic infrastructure. Under Labor, the NBN will be affordable, it will be reliable, it will be fast and it will be safe in public hands. I support this bill and the important goals behind it. It will be of great benefit for the nation and the electorate of Bean, which I represent.

To make this clear again, on this side of the House we strongly believe that the NBN needs to stay in full government ownership to support the ongoing upgrades of the network and to ensure ongoing regulatory oversight of NBN wholesale pricing, keeping broadband affordable for Australians. We know what happens when you privatise assets like this. As I said, the government made this commitment clear in the updated statement of expectations issued to the NBN Co in 2022.

Government ownership is essential to delivering the strategy for a more connected Australia, no matter what postcode you live in, including rolling out more fibre in the fixed line network; planning for the transition to next-generation satellites, which, of course, are going to be critical for parts of my electorate, like Norfolk Island; and modernising universal service obligations.

The NBN is crucial national infrastructure for cybersecurity and national security imperatives, requiring strong government oversight. This is best delivered through certain, ongoing government ownership. Any future sale of the NBN would likely involve foreign ownership, raising potentially serious national sovereignty and security risks.

As I mentioned before, the former coalition government had taken the initial legislative steps to prepare the NBN for sale, including declaring the network built and fully operational in 2020—one of the great works of fiction of our times. So when the member for Fadden talked about this debate as being a Seinfeld episode, a debate about nothing, it's not true. We know what their intent is. We know what would occur if they had the capacity to have control over the fate of the NBN again.

The sale of Telstra under the Howard government was a prime example of the coalition making promises on prices and services for telecommunications that were never delivered. The sale of Telstra also deprived the government of leverage to roll out fibre broadband in Australia, necessitating the Rudd government's establishment of the NBN in 2008.

Keeping the NBN in public ownership is essential for continuing to provide modern, accessible and affordable communication services for all Australians. This is a message that I get time and time again from constituents across the electorate of Bean, whether they be in the deep south, in the suburbs of Conder and Banks, in the Molonglo Valley, in the new suburbs out near Stromlo, or on Norfolk Island. My constituents are clear, and in accordance with their wishes I support this bill and I support the important goals behind it, which will be of great benefit to the nation.

I'm so proud to be a member of a government with a minister for communications as strong and as effective as the minister we have, a minister who is delivering to everyone right across our country, including all of my constituents in the electorate of Bean.