Mr PETER BESSELING (Port Macquarie) [10.43 a.m.]: I will speak briefly on the report of the Standing Committee on Broadband in Rural and Regional Communities. I welcome the great work that has been done, not only by the parliamentary staff but also by the hardworking committee members who provide regular input into the committee and ensure that many of the issues affecting regional and rural communities are brought forward. I refer to issues of access not only to mobile phone coverage but broadband in particular. Many times the committee heard local stories specific to each electorate of people having difficulty accessing the Internet and decent broadband services, although they may live close to towns and major centres. We had some reports from the Lake Innes area in Port Macquarie of people having difficulty accessing good broadband services although they are probably less than five kilometres from the centre of Port Macquarie itself. Recommendation 4 of the report states:

The New South Wales Government continues to represent the telecommunications needs of rural and regional communities throughout the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

I welcome the recent Federal Government initiative that will see broadband rolled into regional communities rather than rolled out. We will see a focus on regional and rural communities, and then the broadband service will be rolled into metropolitan areas. This is a significant step for regional and rural communities, which probably have the greatest need for broadband services to connect local communities to the rest of the world. The network will play a great role in our community by connecting government departments and agencies to metropolitan areas and the rest of the world. We have already heard about the connected classrooms. However, that initiative should be taken further by connecting classrooms after hours and utilising facilities and services to link to adult education. That will enable rural and regional communities to access this great network and to access the technology that is available in classrooms for adult education and learning.

We need to leverage many of these opportunities for the benefit of the broader community, not simply to educate children. Let us open up opportunities for adults and other people who might want to access broadband services. As a result of the work done by this committee, we have seen a focus on e-health. At a meeting we attended at Telstra in George Street we were shown how diabetes could be managed via the broadband network. I spoke with the person running the trial and managed to get the trial started in Port Macquarie. I understand the trial is effective. People can test their blood-sugar levels and send the results across the broadband network to a doctor, who can check the levels regularly. Mobile phone technology can also be used in the management of a person's diabetes. That is just one example of how this technology will be used in the future, not only within hospitals but also on a more individual basis; people can monitor their own health and be in regular contact with their doctors. I thank my colleagues on the committee, as well as the parliamentary staff for their great work in bringing forward this report. I hope the good work continues and that we can press forward and smash some of the barriers to accessing good technology not only in the bush but also in coastal regional areas such as Port Macquarie.
 

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