❓ Mr. Andrews asks about the state government's efforts to improve broadband access across WA. Mr. Logan responds by criticizing the federal government's inaction and highlighting state initiatives and a federal Labor plan.
AnsweredQoN 77Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
INTERNET ACCESS - HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND AVAILABILITY
What are the latest developments in the state government’s attempts to make high-speed broadband available to all Western Australians, no matter where they live? Mr F.M. LOGAN
What are the latest developments in the state government’s attempts to make high-speed broadband available to all Western Australians, no matter where they live? Mr F.M. LOGAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his question. There is no doubt that Western Australians rely on high-speed and affordable broadband access. We all need it in our homes, our businesses, our schools and our workplaces. When I raised this matter during the regional sitting of the Parliament in Geraldton, both the member for Hillarys and the member for Serpentine-Jarrahdale commented on the lack of access to a high-speed Internet service. A number of other members on both sides of the house also highlighted the suburbs in their electorates that did not have access to an Internet service, let alone a high-speed Internet service. Given that telecommunications is a federal government issue - Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
Mr F.M. LOGAN replied: I thank the member for his question. There is no doubt that Western Australians rely on high-speed and affordable broadband access. We all need it in our homes, our businesses, our schools and our workplaces. When I raised this matter during the regional sitting of the Parliament in Geraldton, both the member for Hillarys and the member for Serpentine-Jarrahdale commented on the lack of access to a high-speed Internet service. A number of other members on both sides of the house also highlighted the suburbs in their electorates that did not have access to an Internet service, let alone a high-speed Internet service. Given that telecommunications is a federal government issue - Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
I thank the member for his question. There is no doubt that Western Australians rely on high-speed and affordable broadband access. We all need it in our homes, our businesses, our schools and our workplaces. When I raised this matter during the regional sitting of the Parliament in Geraldton, both the member for Hillarys and the member for Serpentine-Jarrahdale commented on the lack of access to a high-speed Internet service. A number of other members on both sides of the house also highlighted the suburbs in their electorates that did not have access to an Internet service, let alone a high-speed Internet service. Given that telecommunications is a federal government issue - Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
Mr F.M. LOGAN replied: I thank the member for his question. There is no doubt that Western Australians rely on high-speed and affordable broadband access. We all need it in our homes, our businesses, our schools and our workplaces. When I raised this matter during the regional sitting of the Parliament in Geraldton, both the member for Hillarys and the member for Serpentine-Jarrahdale commented on the lack of access to a high-speed Internet service. A number of other members on both sides of the house also highlighted the suburbs in their electorates that did not have access to an Internet service, let alone a high-speed Internet service. Given that telecommunications is a federal government issue - Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
I thank the member for his question. There is no doubt that Western Australians rely on high-speed and affordable broadband access. We all need it in our homes, our businesses, our schools and our workplaces. When I raised this matter during the regional sitting of the Parliament in Geraldton, both the member for Hillarys and the member for Serpentine-Jarrahdale commented on the lack of access to a high-speed Internet service. A number of other members on both sides of the house also highlighted the suburbs in their electorates that did not have access to an Internet service, let alone a high-speed Internet service. Given that telecommunications is a federal government issue - Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
Mr G.M. Castrilli : Here we go! Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : It is. We cannot run away from that. It is a national disgrace that the federal government lacks leadership on the issue of telecommunications. The Howard government has said a lot, but it has done nothing. For example, in the 2004 election campaign, the Howard government promised to spend $50 million to fix suburban broadband services. So far, the federal government has spent $200 million on actual services and $1.4 million on administrative fees. That is the $50 million that it promised in the 2004 campaign! Therefore, it is refreshing that the federal Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, has promised a plan for a $4.5 billion rollout of high-speed Internet access across the country, at 40 times the speed of the current system. That fits in perfectly with the plan of this state government, as announced by our fantastic Treasurer and Minister for State Development, to put out a tender for the aggregation of broadband services to the value of $100 million a year over a 10-year life. That means it will be a $1 billion program. That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
That is, of course, reliant upon this state gaining access to some of the broadband blueprint money. I have spoken about this matter previously. Last October, I went to a ministerial council meeting in Canberra to meet with the federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, about the broadband blueprint. She asked the state to put together a proposal such as the one that was announced by the Treasurer, on which tenders have now closed. She asked for that proposal. We have put a proposal to the minister to seek funding out of that broadband blueprint to enable our program to take off. That was six months ago. We have heard nothing. When people come into our electorate offices and complain about not having access to Internet services, or slow access speeds, we will point the finger of blame at the Howard Liberal government, because that government is solely responsible for the fact that this nation is being held back because of the lack of high-speed broadband services. We now have a fantastic plan from Kevin Rudd, the Federal Labor leader, that will take our nation’s telecommunications into the twenty-first century - which is where it should be - with high-speed Internet access.
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