Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

'Incompetent', 'hopeless', 'useless' and 'a joke' are the words that people in central Victoria and regional Victoria use to describe this government's NBN plan. You need look no further than to what has happened with the NBN towers to the north of the electorate. These towers were built in 2013 under the former Labor government but, under this government, two and a bit years on, they have not been switched on. How incompetent are you as a government not to even switch these towers on? The towers of Goornong, Huntly North, Lake Eppalock and Ladys Pass have not been switched on. Businesses look out their window to a tower that has not been switched on. Homes look out their window to a tower that has not been switched on.

Even more frustrating is the fact that we did not get an answer as to why until six months ago, when nbn co finally revealed that the relay tower that was to be built on Mt Camel was not built—that it has been rejected by VCAT. Here we are 12 months since that rejection and nbn co and this government have refused to come up with an engineering solution. To this day, those four towers have not been switched on. To this day, there is no engineering solution to fix the relay tower to make sure that these people get access to fixed wireless. That is how incompetent this government is when it comes to delivering the NBN to people in regional Victoria and, in particular, to central Victoria.

Since this government got elected and they tore up the NBN plan for central Victoria, not one extra home has been added to the availability of broadband. The homes that are connected were connected because of contracts signed under the former Labor government. This government gets elected, rips up the plan and Bendigo's rollout timetable is delayed by two years—we are knocked off the plan. It still has not happened. We have since been told that we will get fibre to the node.

This is why we have a blackspot problem in regional Australia and, in particular, central Victoria. Because people do not have access to fast-speed broadband in their homes, they rely on their mobile phones to do their daily internet. That is clogging up the mobile phone network, and that is why we have blackspot issues in the heart of Bendigo, or five kilometres from Bendigo, or in Woodend, or in Kyneton or in Castlemaine. There is one street in Woodend where they have been offered four different types of internet services. Some homes are on ADSL2; some homes are on ADSL1; some homes have been told, 'Just use your internet on your mobile phone'; and some homes have been told, 'You'll have to get satellite services.' That is one street in one town in my electorate. What a mess—five different options, including none at all, which is option No. 5.

These are areas that rely on the internet for their businesses. These are areas that rely on the internet for online learning. These are areas where homes rely on the internet for programs. I receive daily complaints from people in my electorate saying that they cannot get access to ADSL or to decent, reliable internet in their home. I have written to the minister. I have asked the former minister and the current minister to come to central Victoria over and over again. The former minister cancelled the meeting because he became the Prime Minister and said, 'Sorry; the people of central Victoria no longer matter to me.' Yet during the election he came to Bendigo and promised the people of Bendigo that they would get fast-speed broadband sooner and cheaper. What a con! It is an absolute con and it is a lie. He promised they would get it in 2016, and here we are in 2016 and the people of Bendigo and central Victoria still do not have it. He promised it would be cheaper, yet the cost has doubled—not to mention that it is also slower. That is because the internet that he is promising, the fibre to the node that has been promised for central Victoria, is relying on a copper network.

How incompetent are you to buy back old, ageing technology? Telstra think it is great. They have sold a dud asset back to a government. There is nothing but incompetence when it comes to the NBN. People in central Victoria know it, as does regional Victoria. Coalition MPs can bury their heads in the sand and pretend it is not an issue, but it is, and every single day there are people in their electorates, like in my electorate, complaining. (Time expired)

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