Gig City Network

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): Supplementary question: can the minister provide a more accurate estimate of when the service will be provided to all 14 that were mentioned last year? What will it cost each business to join up to the service—the connection fee?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for his question. As I said, we are in the final stages of the tender process to award the tender. Once that has happened I'm very happy to sit down with the honourable member and show him the cost structures that individual businesses will incur as part of the Gig City network.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: This is why I can't imagine the Hon. David Ridgway ever being in government. What he would have us do is set a price and then go to tender—tender around a price. It is a ludicrous idea that you would set a price and then go to tender. You would set a price and go to tender: this is the price that it's going to be, now submit your tenders to that price. That is one of the more ridiculous ideas the Hon. David Ridgway has come up with. In the very near future I am happy to sit down with them and explain how these interweb thingies will work.