Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025

Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (15:53): I rise to speak on this bill because making sure Australians have access to the proper telecommunications infrastructure to communicate is a critical part of living in a modern society. If you want to ask anybody about that, you just need to ask the Iranian people right now. They have lived with the consequences of a government that has shut down pathways for people to be able to communicate and speak out.

Fortunately, technology has helped bypass that. The people of Iran have spoken up against the violence, harassment and murder of their citizens by their government, the ongoing and brutal treatment by the Islamic regime against the Iranian people, and the subjugation of women, the murdering of homosexuals and the exporting of terrorism around the world—in particular the incitement to kill Jews—including in Australia.

Telecommunications to help address these problems is an important part of a country being able to do its job and, more importantly, is about empowering citizens to be able to live out their best lives. We know full well that technology continues to evolve and that, done right, technology can be a central part in telecommunications infrastructure and can be a part of connecting people.

But we shouldn't become rigid about this. That was why the former Labor government's plan around the NBN, where they were just going to deliver fibre to the home everywhere, wasn't just economically illiterate; it was also technologically illiterate. We've had technology that has superseded much of fibre to the home, which doesn't mean that it doesn't have value—no-one is arguing that—but that fibre has a place, as well as satellites, as well as mobile telephony.

If you actually understand technology, progress isn't just through fixed infrastructure; it also comes as a consequence of changes and innovations in areas like software compression and data compression. It's in this basis that this legislation sits. Technology plays an important role there, but it also plays an important role to address much more civilian challenges that we face today.

You just need to go to the Goldstein electorate. In parts of Hampton East and Moorabbin, we're seeing more and more density of population and, more importantly, density in terms of building. If the state government has their plans—you'll see that, around most of the Goldstein electorate, it's largely just an attempted distraction away from their complete and utter failure to build the housing that Australians need to own or rent.

It's backed up by propagation by the Minister for Housing, who continues to deceive the Australian community about the density of the population in parts of the electorate. The Goldstein electorate had density levels 30 years ago that were bigger than those of a lot of local councils that have seen significant population growth. Ms O'Neil interjecting— Mr TIM WILSON: The shrill response from the Minister for Housing says that perhaps we've touched on a difficult and nervous point.

But, when you deliberately seek to do as she has done, which is to point out the density levels of the Australian community— Ms O'Neil interjecting— Mr TIM WILSON: we know full well that the minister has completely lost control of her portfolio and has absolutely no idea how she is doing her role, and she is fundamentally undermining the dream of homeownership for Australians.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Chesters ): Order! I remind you, the shadow Treasurer, to be relevant to the content of the bill that's in front of you and suggest that you're straying away. I'd also remind the chamber that the member will be heard in silence.

Mr TIM WILSON: Thank you, Deputy Speaker, but, respectfully, the lived experience of people in Hampton East and Moorabbin because of density issues is explicitly about the absence of mobile phone connection. In fact, they contact me about it, whether it's mobile phone connections or it's television reception. These things aren't being factored into developments, and, as a consequence, they don't have access to modern telecommunications services.

So I'm being explicitly relevant to the legislation and making sure that people have access to those services. I know that the Minister for Housing is completely ignorant of how people live their lives in the 21st century, and, as a consequence, she doesn't understand what she seeks to wreak upon our communities. But some of us are very squarely focused on what people need, which is why the universal outdoor mobile obligation is such an important part of the conversation.

We know that, when Australians have a big problem with being able to access services, there is a role for government, to make sure that we bridge the divide—but I realise that the Minister for Housing is now leaving the chamber in humiliation, because of the shrill responses we have heard. That's her choice. We're going to continue to focus on how we build the housing infrastructure we need to promote homeownership.

We're going to continue to build the telecommunications and telephonic infrastructure we need to make sure that Australians can live their lives and live out the best of their lives. At the end of the day, the Labor Party only has one pathway forward—they want to control your lives as Australians. They want to be able to grab the artifice and the instruments of the state, dictate to people how to live their lives and control their lives, whether it's economically, socially or educationally, through every stage.

Some of us are going to stand up against it. Some of us are going to stand up for empowering Australians, whether it's in homeownership or making sure people have access to telecommunications services.