Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to condemn this government for its appalling rollout of the NBN across this nation and, more specifically, in the electorate of Lalor. This government has taken what should have been the biggest infrastructure project in this country's history and turned it into something that is not delivering for the constituents in my community. Not only can many not access the NBN, as the rollout stalls and is slow, many cannot get ADSL1 and ADSL2 in areas in my electorate, and there does not seem to be anything this government is prepared to do to fix this issue.

We are confronted in the outer west of Melbourne with a digital divide—a digital divide that means businesses in my electorate cannot get the infrastructure that they need; they cannot get the speeds, neither upload nor download, that they need. Mr Birch of Point Cook reports to me that he has a download speed of 0.61 Mbps and an upload speed of 0.32 Mbps. Mr Wadsworth of Point Cook reports he has a download speed of 2.36 Mbps and an upload speed of 1.73 Mbps. Mr Boucher of Seabrook has a download speed of 1.2 Mbps and an upload speed of 0.96 Mbps.

These are people in my electorate who need the infrastructure for the 21st century before we get to the 22nd century. It is time this government took its responsibilities for infrastructure seriously and provided for the people in my electorate.

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