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In the minister’s own words, “pride comes before a fall”.

Hansard – Thursday 19 April 2012

NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK – INDUSTRY ASSISTANCE
[11.17 a.m.]
Ms WHITE (Question) – Mr Speaker, my question is to Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology. Can the minister please update the House on the current status of the NBN industry assistance package?

Mr O’BYRNE – Mr Speaker, I thank the member for her question. As you know, the Government is committed to helping Tasmania’s businesses engage in the digital economy.

Mr Ferguson – You just can’t do it, though.

Mr O’BYRNE – This is where you always overextend, mate. That is it. You are not good on detail; pride comes before a fall, cobber.

As the NBN rollout continues and Tasmania becomes the first State to be fully connected by 2013, it will be increasingly important for Tasmanian businesses to have online presence. The NBN Industry Assistance Package has delivered $1 million split between four industry peak bodies – the Farmers and Graziers Association, the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania, and the Small Business Council of Tasmania – in order to best achieve this aim. This is just one of the several initiatives rolling out to assist business embrace the digital future. Other projects include the Business REDI program and Business Tasmania Online.

Recently, Mr Ferguson , the member for Bass, put out a media statement basically stating that the NBN4business website had been down and that the Government had given up on the NBN Industry Assistance Package. Not only was he completely wrong; it was a disgraceful e-mail and a disgraceful press release. It simply demonstrated to everyone in those four peak bodies his complete ignorance of the Government’s NBN assistance package, stage 1 of which was fully and successfully delivered some time ago with stage 2 about to roll out in a matter of weeks from now. If Mr Ferguson had troubled to do some research, he would have found out that the website that he had made such a fuss about was not a government website but was set up by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for stage 1 of the program and, because this has been fully delivered, there was no need for the TCCI to continue this website.

I am shocked that Mr Ferguson sought to criticise the Chamber for not continuing to maintain a website that was obsolete and had no connection to their stage 2 NBN industry assistance plans which they are rolling out.

I am happy to inform Mr Ferguson for about the sixth time that the Government’s commitment to the NBN Industry Assistance Package has been fully maintained and delivered. One million dollars has been delivered, split between the four peak bodies. These peak bodies have every cent of the funding promised to them and they are on the cusp of delivering stage two of the NBN industry assistance package.

I am pleased to say that the tourism industry has as a first conducted a comprehensive survey of its members to determine their needs in this area. As a result of this research they have developed a number of test case e-commerce solutions with targeted tourism operators in order to provide leading advocates for new technology within the sector, and I congratulate Luke Martin and his team for their work.

The TFGA is beginning to roll out stage two, with a showcase of on-farm technology at Agfest at the beginning of next month, and I congratulate Jan Davis and her team for her work. I am looking forward to further announcements about stage two projects from all peak bodies. I note that the grant deeds for the industry assistance package allow the peak bodies to deliver their programs up until the end of 2013. This will allow them to maximise the use and take-up of their projects by allowing them to align with the rollout of the NBN all over Tasmania.

Mr Speaker, it is about time the Opposition really did their research. This is really the soft underbelly of the Opposition. They strategically and tactically attack four key industry groups when we are trying to assist them in taking advantage of a once-in-a-generation or a 100-year opportunity that the NBN delivers. How about you focus your energy on going after Mr Abbott who is going to take that opportunity away from Tasmanian business?

Mr FERGUSON – Mr Speaker, point of order. I just wish to alert you to the fact that the minister is verballing me.

Mr SPEAKER – That is not a point of order.

Mr O’BYRNE – Sorry, princess, I will not verbal you.

Mr SPEAKER – Order, question time is nearly over, so I would ask the minister to conclude so I can call on the last question.

Mr O’BYRNE – Again this shows that Mr Ferguson chooses to try to score cheap points without doing the work. He has been beaten up by the orang-utan case down at Taroona, and now this one. It is just a continual litany of mistakes by this member.