Interview with Joseph Thomsen
ABC Goulburn Murray
10:13AM
14 March 2019
E & OE
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
And a couple of minutes ago, I caught up with the federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield who is making another NBN switch on announcement in our part of the world. He’s speaking here from Bright.
[Excerpt]
FIFIELD:
We’re announcing today that Bright and Porepunkah are now NBN live. So the more than 2000 local residents and businesses can place an NBN service order. And the great news is that in the electorate of Indi, NBN is now available to 99 per cent of the electorate, and it’ll be 100 per cent in the very near future.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
A couple of NBN questions to put to you in couple of minutes’ time. We’ve got a federal election, of course, only a few weeks out, maybe a maximum of nine weeks out from the federal election from this standpoint. We had Minister for Small Business Michaelia Cash in town last week. You’re the Minister for Communications, you’re in town now yourself. Your visit has the appearance of being essentially to promote Steve Martin, your local Liberal candidate. Why isn’t that a fair assumption?
FIFIELD:
Oh look, absolutely here to support Steve Martin. He’s a terrific candidate. He would make a wonderful local member for this area.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
[Interrupts] That’s okay, but my point is we’ve had plenty of NBN announcements and roll out connections, and the Minister for Communications in yourself hasn’t been there for those roll out announcements, but you are here in the lead up to a federal election.
FIFIELD:
I spend my weeks when Parliament isn’t sitting travelling the length and breadth of Australia talking about the NBN. So this is just par for the course for me. And it’s good that I also have the opportunity to talk about the merits of Steve Martin for the consideration of the electorate.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
Will there be more ministerial visits in the lead up to this federal election do you think?
FIFIELD:
Oh look, absolutely there’ll be ministers coming through Indi, and I’ll be coming back to Indi. I am a frequent visitor to Indi as I am to regional electorates around Australia.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
How confident are you that you can win in Indi given that Cathy McGowan will be stepping down and Helen Haines will be attempting to take the seat as an independent?
FIFIELD:
Well, it’s always absolutely important for the Party, for the Coalition, for our candidates to earn the trust of the electorate. We never take any contest for granted. The right to represent an area in the Parliament is something that has to be earned.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
When will the federal election be?
FIFIELD:
When the Prime Minister calls it. But he’s made it clear that we will have the budget, and that shortly after that, he’ll call the election.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
It’d have to be no later than 18, 19 May weekend, we would think. Is that when it’s most likely to be?
FIFIELD:
Well, it’s entirely in the hands of the Prime Minister. But he’s made it clear that there won’t be too long to wait until after the budget.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
Do you already know what date it’s going to be?
FIFIELD:
No, these are entirely matters for the prime minister of the day to determine and to advise the Governor General.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield is with us, speaking from Bright. Mitch Fifield, pricing of the NBN has been an issue and it has been changeable – the pricing to ISP providers who sell it on to consumers has gone up, it’s gone down, it’s gone back up again. That appears to have contributed to congestion in a lot of areas because ISPs don’t want to buy more than they have to; are we going to see a reduction in pricing to ISPs again?
FIFIELD:
NBN prices to retailers aren’t set in stone. NBN is constantly reviewing them. NBN have reduced the pricing to retailers on a number of occasions. But you’re right, retailers absolutely have to purchase from NBN the capacity to serve their customers. Congestion has fallen significantly from about 18 months ago. And part of the reason for that is because the ACCC has made very clear to retailers that they need to deliver for consumers what they promise. But also we’ve given money to the ACCC so that they can measure and publish the real speeds that retailers are providing to customers and…
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
[Interrupts] Well part of the problem for retailers is it so expensive for them to buy the bandwidth that they need from the NBN – that’s what’s caused a lot of this congestion.
FIFIELD:
Well, no. There’s been a recent survey which has shown that when it comes to the percentage of household income that is spent on broadband, that in Australia we have the seventh cheapest in the world. So NBN is an affordable product for retailers. And retailers have to purchase the capacity that they need to service their customers. That’s what I say. That’s what the ACCC says.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
But our premium speeds are priced differently from our budget or more affordable speeds. We actually pay quite a premium price for the top speeds that are available on the NBN in Australia – and you’d be aware of all of this of course and our internet rankings worldwide for our top speeds are quite low.
FIFIELD:
Well again the surveys on those speed rankings are quite misleading. Firstly, those speed rankings fail to recognise that about half the nation are still on the pre-NBN network. So those speed rankings reflect that. Also there are some dubious comparisons such as that Kenya has much better broadband speeds than Australia. The only problem with that comparison is that only about 2 per cent of people in Kenya have access to any broadband at all. So you’ve got to take a close look at these surveys.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
It’s not just the rankings of course – many experts feel that Australia’s internet speeds are quite substandard and quite overpriced for what they are compared with other countries around the world. So I guess the thing is what’s going to happen with pricing because if it’s cheaper for ISPs, they’ll buy more bandwidth and if the premium prices are cheaper then more households will be able to afford a higher bandwidth than they can at the moment because most households aren’t paying for the premium bandwidth because it is too expensive.
FIFIELD:
NBN have cut their prices on a couple of occasions for retailers, and as a result, we’re seeing significantly higher proportions of people purchasing 50-megabit per second speed packages. So, there’s been a significant increase in the purchasing of higher speed packages by consumers. And that’s partly a function of the fact that NBN talks to retailers and it adjust its prices accordingly.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
Just lastly, at this point in time, when do you think the NBN rollout nationally will be completed?
FIFIELD:
By 2020, it’ll be done and dusted. So, 75 per cent of the nation can order NBN services now. It’ll be 100 per cent by 2020. But what we have very deliberately and consciously done is front-end loaded the rollout in rural and regional Australia. So, rural and regional Australia is much further progressed in the NBN rollout than the metropolitan areas. And for good reason. Rural and regional areas have historically not enjoyed the same connectivity as the cities. So we thought it only fair that we front-end load the rollout for rural and regional Australia.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
Mitch Fifield, Communications Minister, thank you very much for speaking to us this morning. Much appreciated.
FIFIELD:
Glad to be with you.
JOSEPH THOMSEN:
Mitch Fifield, who is the federal Communications Minister, speaking in Bright this morning. He’s making another rollout announcement there. So, that [indistinct] mean that everywhere in our part of the world has been connected up, and it’s also the second federal minister in as many weeks to visit the seat of Indi, which has been held over the last couple of terms by Independent Cathy McGowan. She won’t contest this election. Of course, there’ll be a range of candidates who are contesting but certainly, the independent from the Voices for Indi process, Helen Haines, at the next election, is going to be the focus of a lot of attention. And as you heard from Mitch Fifield there, he already has, in that interview, has said he’ll be coming back to the electorate of Indi before the federal election. That’s his intention. It sounds as though there’s going to be further federal, high-profile politicians. We still don’t have the federal election date so it remains to be seen what difference that’s all going to make.
[ends]