Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The frustration that people are experiencing in my electorate in the growing south-west region of Sydney is clear to see. Last week's figures released in the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman annual report listed both Liverpool and Campbelltown as being in the top 10 postcodes for complaints. In fact, the only areas in the electorate with positive feedback are those with fibre to the premises—and they were part of the original rollout.

Recently, I held an NBN forum in Werriwa. Even on a very cold night, over 100 people attended. Thirty more contacted my office to provide apologies and seek further support. The forum was attended by a representative of the NBN. I thank her for her presentation and willingness to answer questions from my constituents, but it is clear from the forum and the inquiries my office is dealing with every day that the NBN providers and retailers are failing every segment of my electorate, and this is creating a difference in the experience of our residents. Elderly residents are confused as to why they need to change their phones and medical alert devices. Technicians show up but don't ensure the phones are put in the most convenient places in the house or even that they work properly. Young people are being promised and are paying for speeds which are just not being delivered. NBN Co says this is because the retailers are not buying enough bandwidth or because there's still ADSL on the line. However, the fact is people aren't getting what they were promised. My office has received in excess of 300 inquiries since June alone, when we began promoting the NBN forum. Regardless of the issues with the NBN or the telecommunication providers, the sheer scale of the issues that have been raised is astonishing, ranging from issues with installation and technician appointments to the quality of installation and the speed and reliability of connections.

One of the most consistent issues raised comes from constituents with hybrid fibre-coaxial, or HFC, connections. These are used when the existing pay TV or cable network can be used as the final connection for the NBN. Many constituents who've been using an existing ADSL connection have been switched over to HFC before the connection was correctly activated, thereby leaving them without any phone or internet connection, sometimes for weeks at a time. This is particularly prevalent in Macquarie Fields and Hinchinbrook in my electorate. When finally the connection does work, many of my constituents are so disappointed to find their service quality is, in fact, significantly diminished with this connection. The difficulties with switching households to HFC have been disastrous for the elderly in particular. The lack of access to a phone connection is creating a great deal of anxiety for older constituents and their families, as they frequently don't have mobile phones—and don't want them—and rely on their landlines for cases of emergency. There is also ongoing confusion about how the NBN will interact with special-need devices, such as landlines for the hearing impaired, which NBN Co have failed to truly clarify for many of the constituents in my electorate.

Many young families moving into new neighbourhoods in my electorate are discovering that their new 'NBN-ready' properties are not actually ready at all. In Edmondson Park, the residents of Zulu Road were very pleased to recently have their residences connected, except for the fact that they waited well over a year without any fixed-line connection. The most egregious example, however, is probably the suburb of Long Point, which I've spoken about in this place previously. Long Point residents barely have mobile coverage and, despite NBN Co earlier promising rollout dates and connecting suburbs that are less than 60 metres away, they remain left behind.

I recognise, though, that it's not just the constituents of Werriwa who've been let down by this government's bungling of the NBN rollout. Australia's average download speeds have reached 11.1 megabits per second. This leaves Australia ranked 50th in the world for average speeds, behind South Korea, New Zealand, Thailand and Kenya. While it's frustrating enough for someone to stream the latest Netflix series or communicate on Skype, this also risks leaving Australia behind while countries such as China and India look to keep their economies on the cutting edge and compete with the success of Silicon Valley. This will not occur with the current NBN rollout that we've got. This has been compromised. By no longer connecting homes and businesses directly to high-speed fibre to the network and using this second rate copper wire, we have seen— (Time expired)

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