Media Statement - 10th May 2006
A Beazley Labor Government will build a broadband information
super-highway to deliver a super-charged economy that delivers real
benefits for middle Australia.
Middle Australian families deserve real rewards for building a strong
economy. While $10 tax cuts are welcome, they are already spent -
poured into petrol tanks, soaked up by interest rate rises, or little
compensation for John Howard ripping away job security.
Unlike the Howard Government, a Beazley Labor Government will use
Australia's resources boom to deliver nation-building projects that
secure future prosperity for middle Australia.
The Howard Government has mortgaged Australia's future by failing to
deliver the nation building projects needed to secure a prosperous
future for our kids.
Labor is putting forward policies for Australia's future, because the
Howard Government no longer thinks about the Australia we will hand our
children.
In a policy firmly pitched at middle Australian families, a Beazley
Labor Government will deliver a national broadband network in
partnership with the telecommunications sector, boosting Australia's
economy and providing new services to Australian families.
This policy is not only good for families and businesses, it is crucial
to the national economy, helping to deliver the infrastructure the
country needs to secure future prosperity.
This fibre-to-the-node network will give Australia the super-fast
broadband infrastructure Australian families and businesses need.
For the first time, millions of Australian families and businesses will
have access to super-fast broadband internet. The network's speed of at
least 6 megabits per second will be 25 times faster than the current
broadband benchmark of 256 kilobits per second.
For Australian families, super-fast broadband will:
- Slash local and international telephone call costs and make STD charges obsolete;
- Make available new entertainment and communications applications such as video-on-demand, digital TV over the internet, and videophones; and
- Foster the expansion of currently unavailable
services such as e-health, e-education and an increasing range of
government services.
For Australian businesses, super-fast broadband will unlock the
potential of productivity driving applications such as virtual private
networks and customer relationship management tools.
For the Australian economy, super-fast broadband will boost the
productivity of workplaces and add $12-$30 billion to national
production every year as well as unleashing the potential of our
digital content industry.
Labor's plan for a joint venture with the telecommunications sector to
deliver a national broadband network over five years will mean:
- A Beazley Labor Government will draw on the $757 million Broadband Connect program and provide an equity injection from the $2 billion earmarked to the Communications Fund to deliver the public funding of this partnership with the telecommunications sector.
-
Improved regulatory settings to encourage private
sector investment on a pro-competitive basis, overseen by
Infrastructure Australia, the national infrastructure advisory council
that will be created by a Beazley Labor Government.
By comprehensively failing to invest in nation-building projects like
delivering true broadband, John Howard and Peter Costello are letting
Australia slip behind our competitors.
The Howard Government's short-term budgets and cynical money politics
will not lock in future prosperity for Australian families.