Blog

Today is a historic day for Australia. In Armidale, Northern New South Wales, the National Broadband Network was launched on the mainland for the first time. 

This is one of the greatest infrastructure projects in our nation's history. It will transform our future. It stands to radically change the way we live, learn and work, especially in rural and regional Australia.

Rising rates of identity theft and bank fraud  tell us that protection against cyber attacks is a vital concern for our future and the National Broadband Network (NBN)  will help safeguard Australians against those risks—but we’ve got to make sure the NBN is future proof.  That’s why I was happy to launch a very important research program today at the University of Sydney.

Getting small businesses online and taking part in the digital economy is crucial. If you are not online, you are effectively invisible to an increasing number of customers who are searching for services on the internet. 

If your business or community organisation is not online and transacting online, you are also missing out on many of the benefits of the digital economy.

It’s been great to visit The Beaufort Street Merchant in Perth to see how they are using the internet to drive sales growth and ensure they are attracting customers who haven’t driven past the front door.

Of course, having the infrastructure in place to allow businesses to take advantage of online opportunities is crucial.

The current lack of affordable high speed broadband services means there is a large percentage of businesses missing out on the opportunities that the digital economy can provide.

ABS statistics show us that almost 60 per cent of Australian businesses do not have a web presence and 73 per cent do not offer sales and transactions online.

This is despite the fact that in Western Australia, people have embraced the internet – WA has the second highest proportion of households with internet access of all states – 75%.

Our $1.8 billion investment has seen more than 1,000 schools receive new and refurbished facilities such as classrooms, libraries, arts, science and sporting facilities and sustainability upgrades including water tanks and solar panels.

The Gillard Labor Government is delivering on vital road, rail and port projects in WA to better connect communities, support local jobs and stimulate investment. These include:

• $350 million towards the upgrade of road and rail links around Perth airport and the Kewdale industrial area as part of the Perth Urban Transport and Freight Corridor project, helping to reduce congestion and improve productivity and safety.

• $236 million towards the sinking of the rail line at Northbridge to reunite the retail district of Perth’s CBD with the Northbridge entertainment precinct, opening the way for new residential and commercial developments.

• A $135 million investment in WA’s grain rail network to assist restoring its reliability and efficiency. This infrastructure is vital to the livelihood of the State’s primary producers as well as Australia’s trade performance and competitiveness. 

I have just spent a day in Geraldton with Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy. He has been visiting Geraldton to mark the completion of the 449 kilometre Perth to Geraldton optic fibre link.

The highlight of the day was definitely talking to the Gardiner family about how they are enjoying the benefits of their new 13MBPS connection speeds.  These speeds have been made possible by this new infrastructure.