 We're here at the ITU studio in Geneva and I'm very pleased to be joined by Mr. Malcolm Turnbull, who is Minister for Communications for Australia. Minister, thank you very much for doing this today. Great to be with you. I'd like to start off by talking about broadband. Australia is currently implementing a large scale broadband network and it's been very proactive about promoting the benefits of high speed networks. Why do you believe that such a large investment in broadband technology is important for Australia? Well, connectivity is absolutely vital. The benefits of the digital age are only available if everybody is connected and that's obviously an expensive job. To be quite frank with you, the previous government, which we were elected last September, the previous government was committed as to spending much more than they needed to and I wouldn't necessarily recommend the Australian model of the government actually building the broadband network to other countries, but the principle of ubiquitous, affordable broadband is absolutely critical for all countries and the change of policies since I became the minister has been to continue with the broadband rollout, but to seek to do so in a more cost-effective manner so that people are connected sooner and that they are connected more affordably. The biggest barrier to internet access is not technology, it is really income and so if we want to get the benefits of broadband, particularly around the world and countries that aren't as wealthy as Australia, we've got to use technologies that make it affordable and focus on the service outcome, the connectivity that you require rather than becoming fixated on one particular technology platform. Now as we know Australia is a large and geographically diverse continent, it could be so that it faces a lot of the same challenges in connecting its population to broadband nations as in the developing world. Can poorer countries learn from your experience and are you actively sharing your expertise with neighbouring nations? Well we're certainly seeking to do that and I know the ITU in particular has had some case studies on the Australian experience and I'd welcome that and I think the approach that we are taking now is very relevant to developing countries because the approach that we're taking is what we call technology agnostic or a multi-technology model so that we look at a particular area, look at what legacy assets are available in terms of copper or HFC or indeed conduit and whatever's available and then say what is the fastest in terms of time of construction, cheapest and hence most affordable way of ensuring that the people in this area get connected and that that is the critical thing because I think a lot of countries will come under pressure from particularly from vendors who will want to push the shiniest most expensive technology on them and there'll be a tendency to always go for what is seen as the perfect technological solution. The critical thing is the outcome you know we should always remain in terms of telecom focused on the prize. What is the prize people being able to connect at speeds and with capacity and functionality that enables them to do all the things they need to do and want to do and but above all it has to be affordable. There is no point having a Rolls-Royce product, a Rolls-Royce network that people can't afford. Now Australia has been an active campaign of a free and open internet and the importance of the multi-stakeholder process. What's your impression of the current state of the debate and following I mean the global net mungle conference in Brazil a couple of weeks ago for example that raised a number of issues? I thought that was a very promising outcome I think there is there is not unanimity of course but there is very broad support of the multi-stakeholder approach and we have to recognize that the the internet this extraordinary piece of infrastructure the most important piece of infrastructure ever built has been built largely without the involvement of governments you know the United States involvement in the naming and numbering function has been largely a reserve power I've often described the role of the Department of Commerce as being a little like the way the House of Lords has described in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Iolanti as having done nothing in particular but done it very well and the United States should be credited for saying well the I can the internet since the community of the internet has grown up and doesn't need our reserve power anymore I think there's great very commendable that America is doing that but what we have to do now of course is to ensure that everyone is satisfied that the ongoing governance is meeting everybody's requirements but we have to remember that this remarkable piece of infrastructure has not been built by governments it has been built by the civil broader civil society you know technology companies and citizens scientists academics it's a remarkable accomplishment talking about accomplishments ITU is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2015 I wanted to ask you finally what for you is the value of ITU the ITU is at the very heart of what it is to be human there is nothing more human than engaging than speaking we are social animals connecting you know think about all of the characteristics of of our species and what is what can be more important than the fact that we are social animals we are all we love to talk to gossip to argue we love to be together we flock together and the ITU has been at the center of ensuring that we as technology is developed we have been able to do that across wider and right wider distances across all countries across all income groups all demographies and so I would say the ITU is it the heart of humanity Minister Malcolm Turnbull thank you very much in deeping with the city thank you it's been a great pleasure