LABOR’S BROADBAND FARCE

Labor’s fanciful broadband policy is unravelling faster than the internet speeds they have promised but can’t deliver as the key element of their FTTN plan is exposed as a complete farce, Nationals Senator Fiona Nash said today. “This is not a good start for Senator Conroy. He may have gotten away with not outlining detailed policy during the campaign, but the new Communications Minister hasn’t even gone a full week in the job before Labor’s broadband plan has crashed and burned,” Senator Nash said. “The success of Labor’s plan lies entirely with it being some form of joint venture, so when the country’s biggest telco – an obvious front-runner for such an agreement – states categorically it isn’t interested in any type of joint ownership, it’s obvious Labor’s plan is now dead in the water,” Senator Nash said. “Both Telstra and the G9 consortium have made it known in the past they don’t require Government money to build a FTTN broadband network, just regulatory amendments – but Labor obviously wasn’t listening. “Despite constant calls in recent months to release detail, Labor time and time again failed to come forward with any specifics on their policy, and now it’s obvious why. This key election promise has been exposed as the dud it always was and it’s working families and small businesses that will suffer the consequences. “As the saying goes, the devil is always in the detail. In Minister Conroy’s case, the devil is in the complete lack of detail. Labor’s plan doesn’t bear close scrutiny, it never has. “The Labor party has misled the Australian public from the beginning on broadband. Even if they could deliver on their plan, it won’t be until 2013 and even then, 25 per cent of the population will miss out. “In terms of cost to consumers under Labor’s plan, recent reports in the media have forecast the average monthly bill for broadband and phone services would jump from around $101 to $150, or from just over $1200 to $1800 a year.” Media contact: Julie Siegert 0429 818 600

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