Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

No. I am not interested in playing the game with the member for Aston, who probably has better broadband services for his constituents while we are fighting to get improved services for residents in my area.

Mr Tudge interjecting—

Why don't you go and speak to the member for Macquarie, who was present when we were turning on broadband services in our part of Western Sydney. He was quite happy to see that. Maybe even go and see the member for Herbert, who was getting NBN services turned on in his electorate as well.

Woodcroft residents do not deserve this treatment. When I was fighting for better connections for Woodcroft residents, Malcolm Turnbull, speaking on the problems that were being experienced by residents I represent, said:

… the Government now cannot get its wholly-owned taxpayer-funded monopoly to prioritize the neediest areas …

This was referring to Woodcroft in a speech that he made to a Young Liberals conference. He said:

That would be a travesty of social justice from a party that so loudly claims to believe in it.

So it is good enough for him in opposition to hold up Woodcroft and say that it is a travesty of social justice for them to not get broadband. It is good enough for him to come in here and pretend that he has some sort of concern when he quotes his visits to Blacktown in his speech on this bill. Yet the minute he gets into government he makes a decision that rips off those residents, and he does not have the guts or the decency to ensure that those residents get better service.

Instead, he is a man with a plan. His plan is to just conduct a review. It is a review that he says is very objective but is being conducted by a mate with whom he owns a yacht. I am sure that this review is going to be very objective! Is a mate who he has had for some time going to have the guts to stand up to Malcolm Turnbull and tell him where he has gone wrong with his broadband plan which, as I say, has already been slammed for being too slow and too late and will result in 30 per cent less revenue because it will be providing slower speeds? Yet we are supposed to be expecting to see some sort of fair dinkum outcome from this strategic review that is already late. No doubt it will be crunched through the minister's office. I would be interested to see how the review that goes into the minister's office looks after it leaves the office.

The fact of the matter is that they have to reach—off the top of my head—nine million premises by June 2016. I read an estimate that that means they would have to pass 12,000 homes or establish 12,000 connections a day. It will be interesting to see if the minister, the member for Wentworth, makes that mark. But he should have the decency to stand up and honour the commitments and the concerns that he put when he visited Blacktown and spoke about Woodcroft residents. They do not deserve to be dudded.

Debate adjourned.

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