Thursday, 7 April 2022

Ministers statements: Connecting Victoria

Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (12:21): I am very pleased to provide the house with a further update on progress on the Connecting Victoria program. On Monday, 28 March, I was pleased to announce that we have committed, in partnership with NBN Co, to providing faster and more reliable internet to Victorians in 54 locations across Victoria, reaching more than 34 000 residents and around 7700 businesses, supporting NBN to install more than 1015 kilometres of fibre across the state to improve broadband—as members would know, more than the distance from Melbourne to Sydney. This is part of the $73 million agreement that we struck with NBN Co last year.

I had the opportunity to visit Roxburgh Park to make this important announcement alongside the local member, Frank McGuire, and the mayor. In that suburb alone, upgrades will be available to 2430 premises, including 354 businesses. But Roxburgh Park is not the only outer suburban area to benefit; we are also going to support upgrades in Craigieburn, Doreen and Mernda. This will mean over 3000 residential premises and 320 business premises will have the opportunity to access faster and more reliable internet. We will also be laying fibre in Mornington, Mount Martha, Beaconsfield, Officer, Balnarring, Balnarring Beach, Merricks Beach, Pakenham South and Somerville. Across these areas over 4200 premises are set to benefit, including 710 businesses.

No matter where you live—in regional Victoria, in the inner city or in the outer suburbs—we are going to make sure that you have the opportunity to be connected. I am committed to making Victoria the most connected state in Australia, and we are working hard to fill the gaps left by the commonwealth government. These upgrades will make it easier for Victorians to do the things that they need to do and the things that they love to do, like streaming movies, meeting up online, catching up with loved ones or indeed running successful businesses.