Page 752 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
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MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, a supplementary.
MR HARGREAVES: Minister, can you inform the Assembly about how the government is working with NBN Co on the rollout of the NBN in the ACT?
MR BARR: Again, for the benefit of Mrs Dunne in particular, the ACT government is working cooperatively with NBN Co to identify and implement the timely rollout of the NBN in the ACT. And it is the Economic Development Directorate that is coordinating this work on behalf of the ACT government. The ACT government’s NBN implementation task force is meeting regularly with representatives of NBN Co to discuss progress with the Gungahlin and Canberra-wide rollout. NBN Co is expected to continue meeting with residents of Gungahlin through the forum of the Gungahlin Community Council. NBN Co last met with the community council in December last year.
The government is also exploring the service and business value added possibilities of the NBN, and at a workshop earlier this month coordinated by the Economic Development Directorate, representatives from the business community and regional and community advocates, including the Gungahlin Community Council, met to discuss the NBN. Similar workshops are being held across Australia in the first rollout communities to open up new ways of thinking about the possibilities from this high speed broadband infrastructure.
As I mentioned earlier, the ACT government is in the process of negotiating a contract with NBN Co for the provision of fibre in our new developments. NBN Co has been engaged by the Village Building Company for their developments in Watson and Macgregor, and Watson will be the first, we believe, to be fully linked in to the national broadband network. However, new developments will continue to be connected as they proceed in the years ahead—a really worthy project making a real difference in our community.
MR COE: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Coe.
MR COE: Minister, will the ACT government consider leasing or selling for use in the NBN the fibre network connecting ACT government schools?
MR BARR: All of those matters will be the subject of consideration. The TransACT network clearly is something that will also be the subject of some commercial considerations with NBN Co. It makes sense, obviously, to be able to link in all of these networks. The nature of those sorts of commercial arrangements would need to be negotiated. Nonetheless, I think there is certainly some value in considering those options.
Of course, Mr Coe has rightly brought attention to the ACT government’s investment, that started back in 2006, in ensuring that ACT public schools had access to a broadband network that is the envy not only of the nation but the world. I was
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