21 June 2016
Subjects: CCTV, NBN.
EO&E.
MEGAN PURCELL:
Very excited to be here today to announce my plan for the Hargreaves Mall. This is a space that hundreds, and hundreds of constituents have contacted me about to provide feedback on what they think might be going wrong here and how we can improve it, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to take all those comments, put something together, take them up to Canberra through Senator Fifield and get something happening here locally. So, it’s a very exciting announcement.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well it’s great to be here with Megan Purcell who is just such a great advocate for this community. I’m very pleased to be able to announce that as a result of her advocacy we will be giving $245,000 to the Council to upgrade the CCTV in this area. CCTV is a very important deterrent for those who might be considering doing the wrong thing, but it’s also a very important tool for the police to use in evidence so that those who do the wrong thing can be brought to justice. So, this will enable the upgrade and the bringing of the CCTV equipment to a standard that can better assist the police to do their important work.
JOURNALIST:
So, what funding stream has it come out of?
MITCH FIFIELD:
This funding will come out from proceeds of crime fund which goes to support a $40 million national community safety strategy for things like improved closed-circuit TV and lighting.
JOURNALIST:
CCTV is a great idea, but if it will essentially move-off the riff-raff to somewhere else, what are you going to do for them? What are you going to do for these, these youths who are having a troubled time?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, it’s important to make sure that we have good deterrents. There’s an extensive network of closed-circuit TV throughout the Bendigo central business district, and it’s important that families and businesses know that they can go about their business without being interfered with and with the reduction in the incidence of crime. But you’re right, it’s important that we make sure that there are good opportunities for young people. And the best opportunity for a young person is a job. And that’s why we’re so committed to our plan for jobs and growth. Because if we grow the economy, if we create the environment that is good for business then people will get employed.
JOURNALIST:
Isn’t CCTV a State or Council responsibility? Is this an example of Federal overreach in this election?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look, I think everyone would welcome the Commonwealth funding for CCTV. Local government does make an important contribution to community safety and I commend the Council in that regard. But, I think it’s really important that there be the opportunity for local community priorities to be identified and for the Commonwealth to make a small but important contribution to this plan.
MEGAN PURCELL:
And if I can say to Adam, as well, that it was the Council who worked with me to put the CCTV plan together; so they have done a lot of preparatory work, they knew what they wanted, and they were happy to come to us to ask for funding and support.
JOURNALIST:
Will you be seeking of like funding as well from the Council and the State Government or is it purely Federal contributions?
MEGAN PURCELL:
Well, Council will be responsible for the ongoing support that’s involved, but certainly we are fully funding the upgrade at this point in time – and it is absolutely one of the things that people have commented to me over, and over, and over again: is community safety. There are broader social issues, but people want an increase in police presence and they want an upgrade to the CCTV. I’ve been told that some of the undesirable elements around here have worked out where the CCTV blackspots might be and they often are the centre of attention for some of the troubles. So, that’s something that I think is really important to address.
JOURNALIST:
Megan in regards to the tougher sentencing on offenders, is that related to this Hargreaves Mall issue? Or are you talking about offences that might happen in the Mall; or is that a wider problem?
MEGAN PURCELL:
Look certainly, some of the feedback has been that people are disappointed that when there is bad behaviour down the Mall, specifically, that offenders get a slap on the wrist and then they’re told to move on and what happens is they come back – and time, and time again. One of the traders here just the other day was telling me about some people that were smoking an ice pipe literally at the front of their shop. That’s appalling, it’s unacceptable and we need to stop it.
JOURNALIST:
But isn’t that the problem, that they don’t have enough to do and we need to commit more areas to them?
MEGAN PURCELL:
Well, as Senator Fifield said I do think that the best thing that helps people in terms of all social aspects, sorry many social issues including drugs, unemployment, mental health is to get them a job. So we absolutely need to be supporting people, we need to be helping them into a job and we are very much focused on our Youth Pathways Program to help that happen.
JOURNALIST:
But again, some of these people, they’re not capable of working; they’ve got a lot of personal issues. What more can be done for them in that respect?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, look, I think we have a good social support system in the country. So, if someone doesn’t have a job, then we have New Start which provides support for them. If they’re someone who isn’t able to work because of a disability that they might have, we have a Disability Support Pension. If people need greater support, we have things like Head Space, centres for people who have mental illness. So, there’s a range of supports for people who face extra challenges, often for reasons beyond their control.
JOURNALIST:
Senator Fifield you are heading to an event to talk about the National Broadband Network later on today, Labor appears to be talking about fibre-to-the-premises rollout, what’s your plan?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well our plan, nationwide, is to complete the NBN by 2020. Which is 6-8 years sooner than would be the case under our political opponents. And about $30 billion in less cost. When Labor left office in September of 2013, despite having been there for six years, despite having spent $6.5 billion nationwide on the NBN, there were only 77 people in Bendigo who were hooked up to the NBN. Today, in Bendigo we’re at a situation where there are 11,000 people who can hook up to the NBN, there are 5000 people who have elected to do so. We’ve got 5,000 premises under construction and another 60,000 which will be completed or under construction by September 2018. What Labor have done, in relation to Bendigo, is to hold out false hope. They’ve essentially looked at the rollout schedule for fibre-to-the-node for 2017, and said that all of those people can have fibre-to-the-premise. The only problem is, things will essentially have to stop. Planning would have to take place and people who were scheduled to get fibre-to-the-node in 2017 will be having to wait a number of years longer to get the NBN. Plus, with fibre-to-the-premise, people’s front yards have to be dug up. One of the benefits of pursuing the multi-technology mix that we are, including fibre-to-the-node, is that people will get the NBN much sooner. And people will also not have to put up with their front-yards being dug up. So, when Labor say in 2017 you can have fibre-to-the-premise. It’s not true.
JOURNALIST:
But Malcolm Turnbull promised NBN to Bendigo by 2016 before the last election, so how can we trust the Coalition on their timeframes as well?
MITCH FIFIELD:
In 2013, in opposition, we were operating on the available knowledge that we had. When Malcolm Turnbull became the Minister for Communications, he commissioned a strategic review, and that strategic review found that Labor had no idea what the cost of the NBN was. They thought, connecting fibre-to-the-premise, only cost $2,400 when in fact it cost double that. Fibre-to-the-node costs half the price and can be installed without those civil works.
Also, when we came into government, there were only 51,000 people who had hooked up to the NBN. Labor, their own target, was to have a million people hooked up by 2013. So they were 85% off their roll-out target. So, we set about bringing order to where there was chaos. So badly managed was the program that contractors had downed tools in four states.
So, we are ensuring that the NBN rolls out at a pace. Nationwide there are now 2.6 million premises who can access the NBN, and a million people who’ve elected to do so. So, the scheme is on track, on budget and due to be completed nationwide by 2020.
JOURNALIST:
Large parts of Ballarat have fibre-to-the-premise already, without fibre-to-the-premise in Bendigo, would it create an unfair divide between Bendigo and Ballarat, giving Ballarat an unfair advantage do you think?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, fibre-to-the-premise, fibre-to-the-node, fixed wireless and satellite are all good ways of receiving the NBN. Our mandate to the NBN, as an organisation, is to use the technology that makes sense in different areas and to see the scheme rolled out fastest and at lowest cost.
JOURNALIST:
In regards to the cost Minister, the ABC Vote Compass survey estimated that about 70% of voters would pay more to get quality internet. So, you’re saying your plan is on budget, but if it’s more about the quality and people don’t care so much about the cost, do you think your plan is quality and will be fast enough?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Absolutely our plan is quality. With fibre-to-the-node, you can get download speeds of up to a hundred mega-bits per second. Average download speeds for fibre-to-the-node are 70 mega-bits per second, so these are good speeds. These are fast speeds. But the interesting point is that 83% of NBN’s customers are opting for packages of 25 mega-bits per second or less. So we’re building a network that meets the needs that people have. We’re building it at significantly less cost than would be the case under our opponents. And, also, we’re rolling out the NBN much faster than our political opponents would. And when you roll out the NBN faster, it means that the whole nation has the opportunity of the macro-economic benefits of the NBN sooner. You don’t really get those benefits until everyone has the NBN. Which is why we’re absolutely determined to see the NBN rolled out by 2020. The Australian Labor Party, through their announcement, want Australians to wait longer for the NBN. There are two great lies at the heart of Labor’s NBN policy announcement. The first was they would complete the network in the same timeframe as us. Well that’s wrong. We’re completing the NBN by 2020. Labor are proposing that it not be completed until 2022. That’s two years later. And I think that their timeframe will take longer than that.
The second great lie at the heart of Labor’s NBN policy is that it would only cost a billion dollars more than our approach. Again, that is wrong. If you look at Labor’s policy document, they, in the fine-print, recognise that it will cost at least $8 billion more. And it could in fact cost up to $30 billion more.
So the NBN under the Coalition, people will get it sooner and it will cost the taxpayers less.
JOURNALIST:
Minister, just from the top, Chris Jermyn the Liberal candidate for McEwen, he is alleged to have enrolled at a false address and you endorsed him, your thoughts on that?
MITCH FIFIELD:
I support all of the candidates that we have, being the flag-bearers for the Party in seats across Victoria and across Australia.
JOURNALIST:
But do you support Chris’ behaviour?
MITCH FIFIELD:
I support all of our Liberal candidates.
Ends