The Howard Government has cut $35 million from the Building Additional Regional Networks (BARN) fund.
BARN was a $70 million fund that was part of the Howard Government’s response to the Besley Inquiry into Regional Telecommunications, but in a cynical exercise the Howard Government has siphoned off half of the fund to flesh out their response to the Estens inquiry into Telecommunications Services.
One of the programs to benefit from this sleight-of-hand funding trick is the Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS). However, according to evidence heard in Senate Estimates, HiBIS will inevitably advantage Telstra, as it subsidises existing broadband services rather than encouraging the creation of new, competing infrastructure, which was the goal of BARN.
Telstra has expressed interest in accessing HiBIS funds and the Howard Government has welcomed this interest.
The re-badged HiBIS funds are potentially nothing more than a taxpayer subsidy for Telstra to reduce the price of their inflated broadband services. It is rewarding Telstra for high prices and low investment in regional infrastructure.
The Howard Government keeps changing its mind about broadband, and it keeps getting it wrong. What Australia needs is a strategy to improve competition in this emerging market, not subsidies to the big players to encourage them to keep up their uncompetitive practices.
I call on the Howard Government to exclude Telstra from HiBIS funds. Taxpayers’ money should not be used to reward neglect and poor service.
Media contact: Jason Ives – (02) 6277 3334 or 0411 237 683
