Senator Deborah O’Neill has been appointed the representative for the Shadow Minister for Communications in the Senate, and made her first use of the role in scrutinising the Government’s communications policy during Senate Estimates on October 18.
Senate Estimates is the means by which Senators closely examine the use of Government expenditure and questions ministers and government departments. Sen O’Neill said she aimed to ask critical questions during Senate Estimates to the Department of Communications and the National Broadband Network (NBN). The Shadow Minister for Communications holds the Minister accountable for Government decisions and is responsible for Federal Opposition policy for Australia’s broadcasting industry, the information economy, and telecommunications. “Communications is a critical element in Labor’s mission to create the jobs of the future and progress the causes of equality and opportunity,” Sen O’Neill said.
“Every Australian expects a reliable communications network that puts the needs of our economy and our community fi rst,” she said. “The internet is a crucial part of the postmining boom economy; this means a reliable communications policy that promotes accessibility and affordability must be paramount in our efforts to create real jobs of the future. “The quality of our education systems to provide accessible teaching methods, the free fl ow of information to our students and provide our teachers with the new tools to teach our children is reliant on a strong, innovative communication policy that makes education a priority. “The quality and affordability of our healthcare is reliant on a communication network that intertwines with our hospitals and healthcare centres to provide doctors new tools to provide worldclass care to those who need it, regardless of their postcode or their wealth.” Sen O’Neill said a dynamic technology-driven communications policy is vital for the long-term job security of the 44 per cent of Australians who are employed by small business. “This means the issues of accessibility and affordability must be the highest priorities,” she said. “Mr Turnbull’s secondrate NBN is a disaster for our economy. “As every major economy in the world begins to invest in fast and reliable broadband technology and the future-economy, the Liberals turned their back on the digital future and set course for a last century economy,” said Sen O’Neill. “Under the Liberals’ Fibre-to-the-node scheme, Australia has fallen from 30th to 60th in the world for relative internet speeds,” she said.
Media release, Oct 18, 2016 Rhys Zorro, office of Deborah O’Neill