Senator the Hon Helen Coonan was Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts from 18 July 2004 to 3 December 2007. This site is available for archival purposes only.

Senator Stephen Conroy is the current Minister for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy

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Thursday 30 August 2007

State Governments should start asking Federal Labor for details of its broadband plan

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan today called on the State Labor Governments to stop doing Kevin Rudd’s dirty work and instead look after the interests of their constituents.

“It is no coincidence that three state governments have all issued media releases at the same time this week on the Australian Government’s broadband initiatives,” Senator Coonan said.

“Why is it that the State Governments have requested further details of the Australian Government’s broadband investment while not asking for any details of Federal Labor’s broadband plan?

“The Australian Government has already released the full details of its broadband initiative including coverage maps, costings, retail and wholesale prices, speeds, timeframes and wholesale arrangements.

“Federal Labor only released a flimsy press release back in March with no coverage maps, no prices and no details on what it means by ‘regulatory wind back’. Yet the States have conveniently limited their questions and criticisms to the Australian Government.

“This is clear proof that the sole focus of State Labor Governments is getting a Rudd Labor Government elected, even if it comes at the detriment of their constituents.

“If the State Governments are concerned about the interests of their constituents they should urgently ask Federal Labor why their broadband plan reaches only 75 per cent of the population and start coming up with a strategy to deal with the remaining 25 per cent of Australian premises that will be stranded without any service under Federal Labor.”

Senator Coonan said the State Labor Governments should also ask Federal Labor for details of their proposal to carve up competition laws that will set this country back 10 years and send telephone and broadband prices soaring.

“Should a Rudd Labor Government be elected this year, there will be no one to stand up to the States and sadly this sort of behaviour will become commonplace.”

Senator Coonan said the Howard Government’s Australia Connected program will extend high speed broadband to 99 per cent of the country and will provide speeds of 12 megabits by 2009 via a new state-of-the-art WiMAX, ADSL2+ and fibre backbone network. Prices will range from $35 to $60 per month depending on which service is chosen by the consumer.

What OPEL will deliver around the country:

OPEL in Queensland: 340 new wireless broadband towers and 80 telephone exchanges will be ADSL2+ enabled .
OPEL in the ACT : 3 new wireless broadband towers will be installed and 4 exchanges upgraded to ADSL 2+ in and near the ACT covering the entire city of Canberra and all of Jervis Bay.
OPEL in New South Wales : 437 new wireless broadband towers will be built and 113 telephone exchanges will be ADSL2+ enabled .
OPEL in the Northern Territory : 9 new wireless broadband towers will be installed .
OPEL in South Australia : 117 new wireless broadband towers and 26 telephone exchanges will be ADSL2+ enabled .
OPEL in Tasmania : 45 new wireless broadband towers and 15 telephone exchanges will be ADSL2+ enabled .
OPEL in Victoria : 296 new wireless broadband towers and 50 telephone exchanges will be ADSL2+ enabled .
OPEL in Western Australia : 113 new wireless broadband towers and 28 telephone exchanges will be ADSL2+ enabled.

Media Contact: Katherine Meier 0417 441 141