Mr RUDD (Leader of the Opposition) (2:00 PM) —My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm a recent OECD report that the technology being deployed in his rural broadband rollout will only deliver maximum speeds in favourable weather, flat landscapes and low-use levels, and that speed predictions ‘may be overly optimistic and tend to rely on theoretical maximums rather than what users may be able to typically expect’? Prime Minister, why are you proposing a second-rate broadband solution for people in rural and regional Australia?

The SPEAKER —I would remind the Leader of the Opposition that he should not use the word ‘you’.

Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) —In answer to the question from the Leader of the Opposition I can assure him that the technology proposed and announced today is nothing as described by the Leader of the Opposition. The OECD report to which the Leader of the Opposition has referred concludes that WiMAX is a particularly suitable platform for regional broadband access. The report says:

The OECD report, contrary to the impression given by the Leader of the Opposition, is extremely favourable to WiMAX and it is about time that the Leader of the Opposition stopped being so selective and unrepresentative in the way in which he quotes from official documents.