Page 3382 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Ms Burch, I had spoken to you before that. You are warned. Carry on, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Thank you very much, Mr Assistant Speaker. It is disappointing that someone who is a minister in this place has decided today to behave in such a way, to come down to question time and make snide, nasty remarks when the opposition is required to remain largely silent—to make those snide remarks, to interject constantly through speeches and to bring such a nonsense partisan amendment before this place when we had reached bipartisan support for NICTA.
Now what is going to happen is that, instead of this place drawing together for its support of NICTA, we will risk it. What is going to happen is that instead of bipartisan support for the motion, hopefully with the support of the Greens as well, we are going to have a political squabble over this. That is disappointing, but that is clearly what the Labor Party want. They want to play politics with this issue.
Mr Assistant Speaker, we will not be supporting the amendment. I hope that this amendment goes down. I hope that Mr Rattenbury sees it for what it is and does not support it. Then, hopefully, we can get back to the debate, to the substance of the issue, and I can indicate to you that the opposition, as Mr Doszpot has already expressed, will be supporting the motion.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (4.20): Mr Assistant Speaker, in speaking to the amendment, I just want to reflect on your comments earlier in the primary part of the debate. You talked about NICTA and said that in my opening speech I did not have a lot to say about NICTA. So I thought I might take this opportunity to increase your knowledge, as well as the knowledge of other members of the Assembly, on NICTA.
On broadband and the digital economy, NICTA say that they use technology to increase the productivity of the physical economy and grow markets for digital goods and services. The key drivers are faster broadband, more powerful devices and access to almost infinite storage and computing, with more integrated connectivity as next generation networks are rolled out globally.
Through the broadband and digital economy—BaDE—team, NICTA develops and applies technologies to deliver improved lifestyle, economic and commercial outcomes for Australians, underpinned by the increased capacity for the national broadband network. Visitors can experience these initiatives at the digital productivity showcase, which displays NICTA’s research in cloud computing, e-government and e-business, data management, networking and mobile applications. Advances in these fields are laying the foundation for new markets and improved delivery of government and industry services. The digital productivity showcase is an Australian-first space designed to be—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Gentleman, could you just hold it for a bit. Could you just stop the clock for a moment? I thought you said you were addressing the amendment.
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