Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There are so many great examples of great Labor policy that will lead the way to significant transformation that were delivered by the last Labor government—the NDIS, renewable energy targets, needs based funding for schools and, of course, the NBN. And funnily enough these great investments, this vision for a better society, have been absolutely destroyed by the Abbott and Turnbull governments. In 2009 Labor announced that it would build a $43 billion National Broadband Network to provide to all Australians universal access to high-speed broadband. This infrastructure would become the digital backbone of our economy, driving social and economic opportunities for decades to come. The original vision was to build a fibre-to-the-premises network that would extend to 93 per cent of the country, with the remaining seven per cent to be served through a competition of fixed wireless and satellite.

The NBN was established to operate as a wholesale only, structurally separated entity, enabling an environment where retail competition could thrive. This competition would provide lower prices, more choice and better outcomes for consumers and small businesses. But coalition governments are not visionary governments, and you couldn't get more policy paralysis than what we have witnessed with the Turnbull government. One of the greatest letdowns, dropped balls and missed opportunities that this government has delivered is the NBN. The great aspiration for high-speed broadband across the country—not just Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but the nation—has been completely lost under the Turnbull government. Under Labor, all new homes and greenfield estates in the fixed-line footprint would have been connected with optical fibre. But, under the coalition, the multi-technology mess has delivered copper into new suburbs.

The Turnbull government's biggest disaster has been the National Broadband Network—or, as I like to call it, 'no-broadband neighbours', because under the Turnbull government that is exactly what my electorate of Herbert has experienced. In many suburbs, one side of the street has access to NBN whilst the other side of the street has no access. So Townsville is full of no-broadband neighbours. No-broadband neighbours are homes that have been declared as service class 0, meaning NBN Co has made an operational decision that it would be too resource intensive or time consuming to connect particular homes to the NBN when it is rolled out in that area. These homes are left behind without certainty as the NBN moves on to the next area. Householders are not proactively informed, and they are not given a time frame identifying when they can expect to be connected. The number of no-broadband neighbours, or service class 0 premises, has now ballooned to nearly 300,000. It is estimated that one in 10 premises will go through this frustrating experience, and the total number could rise to half a million.

Then there are examples such as local small business operator and director of 2Technical, Luke Cashion-Lozell. The toing and freeing has been ridiculous for Luke. The NBN has been connected to Luke's office since March. Even though Luke had a notice of completion from the NBN and 80 per cent of the tenants in the building are connected to NBN, he is being told he is not connected. He's reached out to multiple retail service providers, who will not help. He's reached out to NBN Co, who will not help. He's reached out to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, who also will not help. In his email Luke says, 'I find it horrifying that the NBN Co are able to operate like this, seemingly ungoverned by anyone, completely outside of the purview of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.' I agree with Luke: it is quite horrifying.

Labor is the creator of the original vision for NBN and it will be Labor that will protect the NBN. I support Labor's amendment to this bill to provide scope for the government to direct NBN Co to connect particular premises during the rollout where the company refuses to do so for operational reasons. The amendment would also require NBN Co to proactively notify households if their NBN connection is expected to be delayed for long periods.

This amendment has the potential to assist so many people in my electorate of Herbert—like Dr Paolo Morisco. Dr Morisco runs a health and wellbeing practice in North Ward, Townsville. His new medical site is located on 34 Gregory Street, North Ward. It is a beautiful new facility, with his GP practice on the ground floor and residential units on the top two stories. This building has the latest modern technology. Dr Morisco's previous local was Mitchell Street, North Ward. For those not from Townsville, it is a walking distance of around 350 metre—no more than a five-minute walk. Although Dr Morisco has the latest modern technology and a great new facility, the one thing his practice did not have was the NBN. For months and months he waited. A medical practice cannot be kept waiting. In order to ensure the best possible treatment for his patients and a quality work space for his staff, Dr Morisco set up a satellite at his previous property, which did have NBN, to connect his new practice in order to access high-speed internet. The shadow minister for regional communications, Stephen Jones, heard of Dr Morisco's plight and came to Townsville to meet with him and the staff regarding their difficulties with NBN. The shadow minister arrived in Townsville quicker than the NBN did for Dr Morisco. It is an absolute disgrace that these are the lengths that a medical practice has to go to in order to have access to NBN.

And the examples don't stop there. There's the entire suburb of Jensen, where people were left without any internet or landline phone coverage. The pensioners there, most of whom do not have mobile phones, had no landline phone connection for months, which is a huge safety risk for elderly people.

Then there are the sections in Douglas. Douglas, in my electorate, is largely populated by university students and health professionals. It is a growing development area also. Because ADSL is on the way out and the NBN is very slowly on the way in, there are commercial properties that are home to doctors and university students who cannot access the internet at all. How is a university student supposed to study and research for assignments with no connectivity? How is any of this supposed to be done for those living in the suburb of Douglas if they do not have NBN? Under the Turnbull government, students will have graduated before this government has delivered the NBN. Labor is fighting for our original vision of the NBN instead of the Turnbull government's copper NBN. Placing fibre with copper is the equivalent of replacing a Holden V8 ute with a horse and cart. That's the sort of backward connection the Turnbull government has delivered to Australians in regional areas, particularly in my electorate of Herbert.

The NBN will be the Prime Minister's biggest failure. Malcolm Turnbull promised that his NBN would be delivered for $29.5 billion. The NBN is now projected to cost $49 billion. Malcolm Turnbull promised that every household and small business would have access to the NBN by the end of 2016. He missed his target by seven million homes. Over 5.5 million homes are still waiting. Instead of taking fibre to 93 per cent of the population, the coalition NBN will take fibre to 17 per cent of the population. Consumer complaints are soaring, with the 2015-16 report by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reporting a 150 per cent increase in complaints about NBN faults. A recent Choice survey also reported that 62 per cent of Australians are experiencing low speeds and unreliable services.

As the economics and business case for the copper NBN collapsed, it became clear that Malcolm Turnbull was no longer willing to defend his decisions. But none of this is the fault of NBN Co, and the finger needs to be pointed solely at the former Minister for Communications and now Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. The horse-and-cart copper NBN, the rollout issues and the blowout costs are the fault of the Prime Minister, and he needs to be held accountable. The NBN would have been the greatest infrastructure project delivered for regional Australia. It would have opened international connections, opened business opportunities, opened communication and opened access to education for those in regional, rural and in some cases remote Australia. Because of the Prime Minister, regional Australia will now be disadvantaged, with a horse-and-cart copper NBN.

The bill before the House today and the measures in this bill provide greater certainty about these arrangements and the scope for flexibility where the ACCC has decided it is appropriate. Although these amendments will not fix the complete mess that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has created, it is a good step and a necessary step forward. Australian taxpayers have made a significant investment in the NBN, and it is important that regulatory settings ensure that there is a level playing field so that the value of that investment is not unfairly determined.

The NBN was designed to implement uniform wholesale pricing to ensure that wholesale access charges for broadband services in regional and rural areas are the same as those in the cities. In order to do this, NBN is underpinned by an internal cross-subsidy that uses profits from services in the cities to fund services in the regions. The obligation for NBN to provide broadband in areas that would not otherwise be commercial to service is unique to NBN and is not shared by its fixed-line broadband competitors. It is therefore appropriate that companies that are seeking to provide high-speed broadband are broadly subjected to the same regulatory requirements as NBN Co, to ensure that there is complete neutrality. The level playing field rules in parts 7 and 8 of the Telecommunications Act were introduced by Labor in 2011 and applied to superfast fixed-line networks servicing residential and small-business consumers. Part 7 requires operators of such networks to make their network available to access seekers—retail providers. Part 8 requires the networks to be wholesale only—that is, structurally separated.

I do I support this bill, because anything that supports NBN has my vote. But let this be a warning to the Prime Minister that I will be relentless in fighting for more fibre access, relentless in fighting for a faster and quicker rollout and relentless in my support for NBN in regional and rural Australia.

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