Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On first glancing at this motion, I would expect that not one member of parliament representing their local electorate, just like I am, would disagree about shopping local. Absolutely—nobody would not agree that we should shop local. But that is where my agreement with this motion will end. In my role standing up for the people of my electorate of Longman, I cannot completely agree with this motion because I completely disagree with the member for Boothby and her government's illogical, ill-conceived so-called support for local businesses. Maybe it is just because I have not had big-business donors or lobbyists whispering in my ear that I find it really hard to believe that $50 billion in tax cuts will help any of the local businesses in my electorate. Maybe it is because I do not accept or believe that showering corporates with money is how you strengthen local businesses. I accept and I support real support that comes from developing quality, reliable and worthwhile infrastructure that supports businesses and start-ups.

Nearly every week, I hear from a different small business in my electorate of Longman that has had enough of this government's horrible mistreatment of communications infrastructure. Just last week—and you will be keen to hear this, Member for Boothby—I spent time consulting with local businesses in my community, and we talked about the NBN and cellular phone coverage. Each and every one of those businesses said to me that they feel like this government has thrown them under a bus. You can give Cathie a call, if you like. She owns Real Food Snacks. She is a great local woman. She was one of those business owners. She told me that she had apparently been upgraded to the NBN, but her internet is cripplingly slow. How can she be expected to compete, when it takes days to upload just 10 image files? What alternative does she have since the switch to the NBN? She does not have a fax line because the NBN cut out her fax line. Can you believe that? It cut out her fax line. But surely she could ring people on her mobile phone? If it were not for the horrible black spots in the area, she could probably do that. But guess what. She cannot. It is 2017. Despite that, she cannot fax, she cannot call on her mobile and she does not have a reliable NBN.

See this speech in context