City of Whittlesea Local Government Conference

South Morang, Melbourne
Thursday, 4 March 2010

Good morning everyone and thank you for the invitation to address your Conference today.

The City of Whittlesea is a fine example of local government delivering growth and innovation through strong leadership and recognising the opportunities presented by new technologies.

The Rudd Government believes that broadband is Australia's future and I am delighted that the City of Whittlesea shares that view and is working with us to achieve it.

The need for broadband

The digital economy is the key to Australia's future economic prosperity and social wellbeing.

It has the potential to improve productivity and service delivery across all levels of government as well as the health, education and cultural sectors.

It also plays an important role in promoting community engagement and social inclusion.

As more people embrace technology ... we know that the digital economy will soon encompass the entire economy and nearly all facets of our society.

Broadband is an integral part of the digital economy and the Rudd Government is ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to deliver the opportunities it presents. 

It is why we are building the National Broadband Network to deliver high speed broadband to every premises across Australia ... every home, every school, every hospital and every business.

For local governments the NBN will provide exciting opportunities for both infrastructure and economic development.

Your constituents will be able to participate more interactively with your council activities, and councils will be able to offer more services.

Update on the delivery of the NBN

It is worth taking a few minutes to provide an update on where we are at with delivering the National Broadband Network.

Especially as over the past few weeks I have been able to announce and launch some very exciting milestones.

I am very pleased to report that less than a year after the Government's announcement to proceed, the National Broadband Network is fast becoming a reality.

Momentum is building and significant progress is being made in fact, the roll–out of fibre–to–the–premises technology has already commenced in Tasmania.

Trenches are being dug and fibre is being laid in one of Australia's most neglected broadband markets.

By July, the first three towns in Tasmania will begin receiving services.

On Monday I visited Hobart to announce that the Government would inject $100 million into NBN Tasmania, to start delivering high speed broadband to an additional 90,000 premises.

When completed, 200,000 homes, businesses, schools and hospitals in Tasmania will be connected with optic fibre, capable of delivering speeds of 100 megabits per second.

Work has now also begun on delivering 6,000 kilometres of optical fibre backbone links to 100 regional locations across six states and territories.

This $250 million investment will directly benefit more than 395,000 people and represents the first building blocks of the NBN on mainland Australia.

I visited Mt Isa, in central Queensland, just three weeks ago to launch this massive construction project.  

Further to these exciting developments on Tuesday I was pleased to welcome news that NBN Co had selected the first five sites that will receive high speed broadband on mainland Australia.

These first release sites will be used to test the network's design and construction methods and will provide crucial information to assist in the roll out of the NBN.

NBN Co has chosen the sites based on a range of criteria such as demographics, climate, existing infrastructure and terrain, to ensure the physical roll out of the NBN is as smooth as possible.

NBN Co will be using the first sites to test different construction techniques to suit different geographical regions across Australia.

The test sites are:

 
• A part of the suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne
 
• An area of Townsville covering parts of the suburbs of Aitkenvale and Mundingburra
 
• The coastal communities of Minnamurra and Kiama Downs south of Wollongong
 
• An area of west Armidale, NSW, including the University of New England
 
• The rural town of Willunga in South Australia.

There is no doubt that the National Broadband Network and the growth of our digital economy will change the fabric of our nation. 

It will lay the foundations for future growth, productivity and innovation across all sectors of the economy in the years ahead.

It is certainly an exciting time to be part of this incredible period of change,

A collaborative approach to delivery

Delivering the National Broadband Network will require a collaborative approach across all levels of government.

Getting fibre into new developments — or greenfields areas — will be a significant and challenging project.

While most stakeholders see the merit in our objective to ensure new developments receive the latest technology, there are legitimate differences of opinion about how we design policy to make that a reality.
 
 That's why in August last year, I established the Fibre–in–Greenfields Stakeholder Reference Group which comprises representatives of almost 30 organisations, including developers, carriers, consumers and state & local governments.

The Group is discussing matters such as:

 
• The legislative framework for fibre in new developments
 
• Specifications and guidelines to assist developers in having fibre installed
 
• Possible accreditation and certification arrangements; and
 
• Public awareness–raising.

I'm pleased to see that many of the members are here today.

Local governments, in particular, have an important role to play as they will be the ones directly communicating with developers.

Councils like the Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Playford City Council, and of course our host today, the City of Whittlesea, have taken the initiative to develop FTTP infrastructure in their areas.

Their forward thinking approach provides a model which we have sought to build on at the Commonwealth level.

The City of Whittlesea has 29 subdivisions being deployed with FTTP, with approximately 8,000 fibre–ready premises and 950 residences already connected to FTTP.

Conferences like these help to spread knowledge among other communities to share strengths and solve problems as they arise.

What the Government is doing:

As I have said many times, it simply does not make sense to fibre–up established areas and leave new developments behind.

While new developments have been increasingly fibred–up, to ensure this happens more widely and consistently in the future, the Government has committed to putting in place a legislative framework.

We released a public exposure draft of the proposed legislation in December, and requested comment by 22 January.

We had a strong response.

We have been carefully considering the feedback received.

I hope to make an announcement about our way forward very shortly.  But today I would like to foreshadow our plans.

I am still proposing to introduce legislation before the end of this month — so that the legislative framework that the Government promised is in place by 1 July.

The legislation would enable me as the Minister to designate that types of real estate developments in which if fixed lines are installed, they would have to be fibre.

I envisage it would specify classes of estates that would be designated, not individual estates.

We recognise that interaction with NBN Co's roll–out and ensuring consistency, particularly in terms of the consumer experience, are important issues to be considered.

The legislation provides that in those specified estates the optical fibre lines need to meet specified conditions.

While the legislation will provide a framework, much of the detail will be set out in subordinate legislation.

We will continue to work through the content of this subordinate legislation with stakeholders as it will impact on how the fibre requirement in greenfields will be applied in the short to medium term.

However, today I would like to outline the issues that will be dealt with in the subordinate legislation.

One issue is 'what size of development' should be captured?

For example, smaller developments, including those in brownfields, may not necessarily lend themselves to the immediate connection of fibre.

It is not practical where a house on an old quarter–acre block in the inner city has been cleared to make way for three new town houses, to have fibre installed when that fibre might need to be run back to an exchange some way away.

In this instance, it may make more sense to ensure those premises are made fibre–ready so they can be readily retro–fitted when the NBN Co rolls along as part of its wider roll–out.

Another relevant issue that will be considered in targeting the fibre requirement is the cost of backhaul, and how it may vary in different areas.

Of course, in all instances, if telecommunications is to be provided in any form, backhaul has to be provided.

The incremental cost of providing backhaul for fibre, compared to copper, is not great.

The issue really is – who owns it and who pays for it.

As always, there are a number of approaches to these and other key issues that will inform how we target the fibre requirement. 

We are committed to working through these issues through the Stakeholder Reference Group.

I want to also stress today that we are committed to releasing a draft instrument as early as possible to inform consideration and debate of the legislation.

Fibre–ready requirement

I would also like to talk about our plans to focus on fibre ready infrastructure in order to future proof greenfields estates that may not be captured by the fibre requirement.

A strong message from our consultations has been that if fibre cannot be immediately installed, there is benefit in having 'fibre–ready' infrastructure installed so that fibre can be more readily and cost–effectively rolled out in the future.

We will make sure our legislative framework is flexible enough to promote this.

By fibre–ready infrastructure, I mean the right network of passive infrastructure like ducting, pits and plinths for splitters.

That does not just mean conduits that are the right diameter, but one that is:

 
• Properly designed for fibre
 
• Uses all the right components
 
• Is correctly installed.

There may be a need to provide guidance on the provision of lead–in conduits and in–premises arrangements.

As many of you will know, some of the practical problems with early FTTP roll–outs, including here in Whittlesea, related as much to practical installation problems as to the economics of the work.

The value of this approach is reflected in work I understand the Victorian Government already has in train.

It is looking at having fibre–ready conduit installed in new developments in high–growth areas.

I note Dr Paul Brooks from Comms Alliance will be speaking about FTTH standards and their relevance to greenfields stakeholders in his presentation this afternoon.

Some of this work relating to greenfields is being funded by my Department.

Role of States and Territories:

While the Commonwealth legislation can do much, it can only go so far.

That's why we are keen to work with states and territories to have fibre and fibre–ready requirements included in their planning arrangements.

Also, as I've said on previous occasions, local governments usually deal with developers on a day–to–day basis when it comes to the requirements for new developments — so they clearly have an important role as well.

Ideally, we envisage that complementary state and territory and local government planning measures will assist us to achieve the objective of ensuring fibre is installed in new developments, and the outcome are consistent across areas.

Accreditation and certification:

We are also looking at the development of an accreditation and certification scheme for FTTP providers and the networks they build.

This would provide a means of ensuring councils, developers and property buyers that the networks installed are of high quality and meet relevant specifications.

It would also assist developers in knowing who is available to roll out the fibre network.

Awareness–raising:

Obviously there is a need to raise the awareness of new requirements with developers, and builders and councils.

Another key audience is new property buyers.

We need to raise their awareness of the benefits of fibre broadband so they know they should be looking for it when purchasing a new property.

Role of NBN Co in new developments:

There are two more issues I would like to comment on:

 
• The role of NBN Co in new developments; and
 
• The time frame moving forward.

It has always been envisaged that NBN Co could service new developments, but that is something the company needs to consider in its planning and advise the Government on.

It has also always been envisaged that other providers, so long as they meet the necessary standards and can deliver consistent service outcomes, should have the opportunity to install FTTP in new developments.

There are a range of commercial models and relationships that may develop in this sector into the future.

For example, NBN might consider options such as working with established providers on a 'build, transfer and operate' model or something similar.

Under such arrangements NBN Co could control technology and service outcomes, spread its cost across its whole business and retain ownership, ultimately enabling the integration of these networks into its overall network.

Timetable for new developments:

In terms of the timetable for moving forward, the Government remains strongly committed to implementing this policy just as it is strongly committed to the NBN as a whole.

We have taken some extra time over the legislation and way forward because we want to ensure we get it right.

Obviously I am aware that our start date of 1 July 2010 for estates that receive planning approval is fast approaching.

To start with, therefore, a more targeted and phased implementation may be appropriate, including the use of a 'fibre ready' obligation where fibre is not mandated in the short to medium term.

Moreover, the definition of 'planning approval' in the subordinate legislation is another important issue we are considering, given that it could affect the date from which the requirement to provide fibre takes practical effect.

According to the National Housing Supply Council, there are six different stages in the development pipeline – from designation of a new land release area, down to development approval for a particular house and land package.

Depending on which stage is chosen for the purposes of our subordinate legislation, it could take longer for the fibre requirement to take practical effect.

This is an issue we are considering carefully and are discussing with members of the Stakeholder Reference Group, before we finalise our way forward.

Conclusion

It is certainly a big year for the delivery of the National Broadband Network.

There is much work to do and there are some exciting milestones approaching.

In closing can I commend the City of Whittlesea for the great work it is doing in delivering high–speed broadband to Melbourne's north.

Its fibre deployments will put residents at the leading edge of innovation and provide access to a whole range of advances as they become available in the years ahead.

The work that has been done already in Whittlesea is a guide to what we are trying to achieve nationally with the widespread deployment of cutting edge technology.

I hope that you will be able to use the ideas expressed at this conference and introduce innovative solutions in your respective areas of expertise.

I wish you all the best for you Conference. Thank you.