Transcript - ABC Radio National Breakfast

KYLIE MORRIS, HOST: First, though, the Federal Government’s multi-billion-dollar funding boost for the National Broadband Network. The $3 billion funding injection will help upgrade more than 600,000 homes and businesses to a full-fibre connection. The Government says after the upgrades are completed by the end of 2030, 95 per cent of premises across the country will have access to that fibre to the premises option. The promise of fibre to the premises connections across Australia actually dates back to 2009, when the first Rudd Government expected it would take until 2021 to complete. And here we find ourselves.
 
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland joins me now from Launceston in Northern Tasmania. Good morning, Minister.
 
MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Good morning.
 
MORRIS: Who will see the most benefit from this? Is this really about improving rural and regional connectivity in places like, for example, where you are in Northern Tasmania?
 
ROWLAND: It certainly is. When we talk about these 622,000 premises, more than half of them are located in rural and regional Australia. And as you say, where I am in Tasmania right now, there will be some 21,000 additional premises who will be upgraded, 2,000 of those in metro areas and 19,000 in regional areas. So this is not only an investment in essential enabling infrastructure, it means that irrespective of where Australians live or operate their businesses, they will have the same equality of access when it comes to the highest quality broadband infrastructure. And that means improved productivity. It means jobs. It also means overcoming that tyranny of distance, which we know when we’re in a position – some 20 years ago, when Australia was left as a broadband backwater with no plan for the future, it meant that Australians were disadvantaged depending on where they lived. It’s been a Labor Government that has delivered on the National Broadband Network, and we want to see this through to ensure that every Australian is liberated from a degrading copper network that is not fit for purpose.
 
MORRIS; But, Minister, I guess there is a real question here though, over whether or not it’s already too late. I mean, former Labor minister Alannah MacTiernan has just completed a major telecoms review, and she concluded that Australia’s growing reliance on Elon Musk’s Starlink poses a potential risk to the national interest. Let’s start with that reliance. Are you worried now that, given growing competition from 5G and services like Elon Musk’s Starlink, that actually continuing to invest in NBN when – in a sense that technology is borderline redundant already?
 
ROWLAND: Well, to the contrary, the very comprehensive review that was done by the regional telecommunications inquiry points to the fact that fibre continues to be the standard when it comes to capability to speeds, but also in terms of long-term reliability. The laws of physics are set. Fibre is clearly recognised as the standard. It’s why Labor set out when we conceived the NBN to ensure that this was the technology that we invested in because it lasts some 50 years, it is impervious to – compared to other forms of technology. It is impervious compared to, for example, copper. When it comes to natural disasters, it is far more resilient. It also means that having that infrastructure present, changing the electronics or the software is one that is capable of being done seamlessly, and it is recognised around the world that fibre is the standard. Now, of course, there is a place for other technologies, and NBN itself uses a mix of technologies ranging from satellite to fixed wireless to fibre. And that will continue to be the case, particularly in some areas where it will be unfortunately uneconomic to roll out fibre to some premises.
 
But let’s be very clear: the fact is that fibre remains the standard, it is the standard that Labor always intended to enable Australians to access, and it is the best investment that can be made in long term infrastructure.
 
MORRIS: Minister, on Starlink, do you agree with Alannah MacTiernan that Australia’s growing reliance on that technology owned by Elon Musk is a potential risk to the national interest?
 
ROWLAND: It’s a risk in areas where there is no credible substitute, and we know that those areas are where copper is, unfortunately the predominant technology, and we’ve seen that. But again, we know that fibre is the most resilient, the most future proofed technology that is available. And we know that Australians choose – because this is a competitive market when it comes to satellite areas – they have been choosing Starlink because they have not had reliable connections through copper. And that is precisely why this investment is being made.
 
I think it also needs to be made clear that NBN still continues to invest. We still continue to sign up customers to full-fibre. Customers who are on legacy copper products are the ones who are choosing alternative technologies. We want to make sure that Australians continue to have access to reliable, affordable broadband and also in many cases, it should be understood, access to those other alternative services are ones where it may not be economically feasible for customers. There are often higher set up costs, less reliability. The objective here is to ensure that Australians have that opportunity of access to the best-quality infrastructure.
 
MORRIS: Minister, moving on to other matters, the announcement last week from Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook will all but abandon fact checking. How concerned are you that move potentially will only worsen the level of misinformation online?
 
ROWLAND: Social media has a social responsibility. We are aware as a government that starting in the US that Meta will be ending its third party fact checking program We have been advised by Meta Australia that there is no immediate plan to end the third party fact checking program in Australia, including prior to a federal election. But I think that Australians will be questioning the amount of speech, the amount of civic content, for example, that Meta has indicated people will continue to see on their feeds. But as a government we make clear that big tech companies do have that social, economic and democratic responsibility. Regardless of where companies operate, they must still abide by Australian laws, and Meta has indicated to the Government that they intend to do that.
 
MORRIS: It does seem particularly critical at this moment with an election on the horizon. And on that subject, just one woman has been preselected to replace eight Liberal MPs retiring at the next election. According to the Australian Financial Review, men have been overwhelmingly preselected in safe seats. Is that disappointing for you?
 
ROWLAND: Well, it’s par for the course when it comes to the Liberal Party. Clearly, Peter Dutton talks a big game when it comes to these issues, but the reality is borne out by the fact that they continue to overlook women for public office. In contrast, Labor has had for decades now a policy of affirmative action that’s reflected in Prime Minister Albanese’s Cabinet, in our caucus overall. And for my mind, that says everything about Peter Dutton being stuck in the past, just as he’s stuck in the past around the National Broadband Network. His response to this announcement is to call it a joke, which is an insult to regional communities.
 
MORRIS: Thank you. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, thanks for joining us on Radio National Breakfast.
 
ROWLAND: Pleasure.