Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's becoming a bit of a habit in this place for us to rise on this side, with great disappointment, to talk about something that is not working again or is a broken promise or a backflip. Here we are talking about the NBN and yet another delay in rollouts of the NBN. The government rose to power promising a cheaper and better NBN. We can go back to the 2013 election, when we remember the now Prime Minister, the then opposition spokesman on communications, on Sky with all the holograms and all the spin, because that's exactly what it was: nothing but spin that was promising a better and cheaper NBN. Both of those promises have not come to fruition. We've seen an absolute blowout in costs and an inferior system and network where it's actually slower than what people had previously. These are the reports that I'm getting in my electorate. There are delays in getting the NBN rolled out in their suburbs and, when it does get rolled out, it is actually slower and not as good as what they used to have. This is a real problem if you're working from home or if you're a student who wants to download your homework or if you are at university. This is a very big problem.

I'm sure my colleagues next to me and behind me—the member for Herbert, the member for Dobell and the member for Macquarie—will have stories to tell about their electorates as well. I get regular complaints from suburbs in my electorate such as Underdale, Flinders Park, Fulham Gardens, Mile End and Marleston, where bits and pieces of the NBN are being rolled out. There are massive delays when it comes to ensuring that appointments are kept, to being able to adjust to the new system and to ensure, for example, that pensioners who have alarms for their own safety do not have them knocked out with nothing in place to ensure that, when they're in an emergency, they are able to be connected. These are things affecting not just my electorate but those all around the country, from what I hear from my colleagues. As I said, we have seen delays and an inferior NBN than what was proposed by the Labor government in 2013.

If we fast forward to today, as I said, we have a second-rate copper NBN that drops out, can't keep up with the demands and performs worse than many, many other countries around the world. And it's only a Turnbull government that could waste billions of dollars and make the internet worse. If they'd just listened to us in 2013 when we spoke about fibre to the node to ensure we would have the latest technology, the best technology and the best communication system, an absolute infrastructure benefit to this nation, we wouldn't be in this position today. And it's one thing to talk about the rollouts and how many houses are being done, but what's the point if they don't work? What's the point if we don't have fast downloads? What's the point if a kid can't download the information to put in his homework? What's the point if a university student can't download things from his university to be able to answer the questions? What is the point of having a fast rollout and of getting it done, which we don't anyway?

As I said, Labor's plan for a majority fibre network rollout was a great opportunity for this nation. It was a nation-building moment where we could be right up there with the latest technology. It's great to hear the Prime Minister talking about internet connections and being the super nation when it comes to technologies et cetera, but you've got to invest your money. You've got to be able to look at the latest technology and run with it, not go to an inferior technology. It was an ideological spite back in 2013 and 2016, nothing else. The government knew the Labor plan and what we were proposing was a far better system but, because of politics and spite, they decided to go against it.

You always have to look at the backbench over there on the other side while the leaders of those opposite try to sell Australia the dud system that is the NBN. The complaints I get in my electorate every single day via emails or phone calls, the government side would be getting as well. You can see it when they're talking about the NBN. We have slower speeds, we have dropouts, poor connections and a complete service failure, and it has left many pensioners in my electorate without phones.

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