Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the recent Strategic Review of the National Broadband Network (NBN) revealed that the:

(a) Government's broadband plan can be completed using a mix of technologies to save $32 billion, keep monthly bills lower and deliver the NBN to all Australians four years sooner than under Labor's plan; and

(b) NBN is in a fundamentally worse position than Labor ever disclosed to Parliament or the Australian public;

(2) notes with concern that the review found that:

(a) if Labor's policies are left in place, Australian households could pay up to 80 per cent more for broadband each month; and

(b) the cost of completing the NBN under Labor's plan has blown out to $73 billion; and

(3) acknowledges that the Government is delivering on its election commitment to complete the NBN sooner, cheaper to consumers and more affordably for the Australian taxpayer.

Gilmore is an exciting and wondrous place to live with contrasting scenery, contrasting lifestyles and certainly contrasting technology. One part of Gilmore, the seaside village of Kiama, has been blessed according to the previous government regarding the rollout of the NBN while other parts of Gilmore struggle to get an ADSL connection.

During the past three years, the NBN was put on a technology pedestal that was not only impossible to maintain but impossible in application. Everyone, according to the policymakers of the day, deserved to have fibre to the home technology with 100 megabits per second, and people were adamant in their demands. They, of course, did not need 100 megabits per second. They were only downloading the odd movie and their favourite music; everything else was average with emails and the occasional mini YouTube download. That need is between eight and 12 megabits per second.

In the beginning, the people of Kiama were delighted to be one of the pilot rollout areas. I cannot report that the enthusiasm continued throughout the project and new names for the NBN were developed: 'Not blah, blah Necessary' or the 'National Broadband Nightmare'. More recently this has improved. Originally, the cables were all supposed to be underground, but someone forgot to check the local geology. Kiama is built on basalt, so you can imagine how many engineer's drills were broken or had to be replaced because they were blunt. In fact, the entire project was put under pressure by unrealistic construction times and untrained technicians—typical, really, pushing a project for the big media grab but not making sure the best solutions were applied.

The Labor government's desire to rollout the infrastructure according to their political timetable was unrealistic, badly planned and absolutely reflected a lack of business acumen. It is no wonder the project blew the budget bottom line and had thousands of homes not connected according to their schedule. Apart from the cabling change, some streets in Kiama were without water for five days, there were power losses and there were homes connected but, oops, it should have been the neighbour's place. Cable was connected to the home then the owners were told there was an addition additional cost to put cable throughout the house. Driveways were dug up, medical alerts were not being connected and connection appointments were not kept, triggering paperwork—in some cases, eight copies of the same material and eight rescheduled connection times.

At the same time, there were complaints from other areas in Gilmore demanding immediate connection—if only they knew. Many residents in Kiama wished they were not a guinea pig site. There are so many residents who assisted in having the medical alert facility accelerated as part of the changeover. Thank you for your passion and persistence. Thank you also to the many others who have shown great fortitude and patience in what has been to date a very frustrating experience. They include Rod Cork, who told us that businesses had been caught up in the problems; Peter Snelling, whose patience is beyond belief; John Holdgate, with multiple correspondence copies; Ross and Joyce Brown, who had no water. But, most of all, thank you to Robert G and Michael T, regional managers for NBN Telstra. Some would say you are both just doing your job, but your efforts in defusing myriad issues have been amazing. When a government lacks business experience there are problem consequences. Putting unrealistic expectations on provider companies without listening to their concerns and their knowledge to improve the system, causes waste, inefficiency and customer frustration, and the list goes on.

Straight after the election, we carried out a strategic review. The startling summary of findings, if we had followed Labor's plan, includes: that the cost would end up being almost $73 billion—that is, $29 billion more than the public have been told and that it would not reach the final rollout destinations until 2024; an 80 per cent increase in the cost of broadband for the average family; and $6.5 billion had been spent with only three per cent of the scheduled connections completed.

The new plan is a combination of technologies. It is cost efficient, time efficient and technologically flexible to grow with advances over time. The plan includes extending the interim satellite service; $34 million has been allocated to upgrade the services for existing users, expand the service availability and establish a subsidy scheme for the cost of on-premise equipment and installation.

The fixed wireless review also showed that Labor had not fully catered for the needs of regional areas like Gilmore. In the September quarter, the summary of the reviews is due. It will describe a mix of technologies for NBN as an updated 2014 to 2017 corporate plan, including a detailed rollout schedule. It is essential for everyone to know that their village has not fallen off the map, as some of our local media imply, or to have an NBN that is somehow inferior, or to be ignored, as those on the opposite side will pretend. The government's NBN plan will be far more a rational and national approach to the development of broadband infrastructure where those areas will little or not internet at present will be seen as a priority. A faster and most cost-effective rollout is the action of an experienced and responsibility government.

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