Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

As my colleagues have mentioned in their typically subtle and nuanced way, today is six months since the Prime Minister promised that 'good government starts today'. My message for the Prime Minister today is that, if he were serious about good government, he would keep his promise to the people of Rankin that they would all have the NBN by next year. Instead, what we have is two-thirds of the people from Rankin wiped off the NBN map, including 8,000 families in Woodridge and Logan Central, where work had already commenced. To make things worse, not a single extra Rankin home has been added to the latest NBN map.

There is a lot of angst in my community about this. A lot of people showed up to an NBN forum that I held with the member for Blaxland last Wednesday night. I want to thank the people who came along to express their concerns about this very important issue. Our message to the government—my message, the member for Blaxland's message and the message from all of us, all of the people in my community who showed up and all the people who write to me about this—is: don't just talk about being a good government; actually be a good government. That means: put the Rankin homes back on the map. Give the people in my electorate the NBN that they need and deserve so that their kids can get their homework done, small businesses can prosper and this country can enter the future as a first rate, first world economy.

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