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

Bendigo is home to some very innovative manufacturers—manufacturers like Industrial Conveying (Australia), who have designed systems that big businesses like Arnott's, Schweppes, Qantas and even Australia Post use. But, like so many of our manufacturers in Bendigo, they are struggling because of the terrible connectivity of this government's inferior NBN. Industrial Conveying employ up to 90 people, pay $6 million a year in wages and have an annual turnover of $20 million, yet this government's plan under the current NBN is that they be allocated satellite services. This is a manufacturer in Bendigo. They are 650 metres from fibre to the node and a kilometre away from fibre to the curb, yet this government is saying: rely on satellite. We are not talking about farmers; we are not talking about people in remote Australia. We are talking about a manufacturer in Bendigo, and this government is saying: you can have satellite.

They are not the only manufacturer in this position. Deepcore Drilling has also been told it can rely on NBN satellite. This government is a disgrace when it comes to its rollout of the NBN. The manufacturers in my electorate blame one person and one person only for this woeful plan for the NBN: the Prime Minister.

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