Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I endorse and support the comments that were made by the previous speaker, the member for Eden-Monaro. As someone who had responsibility for that issue during the previous term in my shadow capacity, I understand the distress and strain that it's causing in sectors of the veteran community. I endorse the comments by the member for Eden-Monaro, particularly the call for action by the government. They've been sitting on their hands on this issue for too long. I support and congratulate the member for Eden-Monaro for that contribution, and I endorse what he said, particularly because I was involved in that in my shadow capacity in my last term.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the five appropriation bills today, particularly as these are the bills that provide appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the annual services of government and allow for the implementation of the 2018-19 budget measures. It was only last night that I spoke in the second reading debate of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Plan) Bill. I talked about the lack of equity and the lack of fairness, especially for women, in this budget, and how it is, unfortunately, typical of what we expect from our colleagues opposite.

When I was discussing that bill I used the opportunity to again call out the government's appalling record on attracting women into its ranks, its appalling record not just in the House of Representatives but also the Senate, and its appalling record for getting rid of women and replacing them with men. I spoke about my concern, my deep concern—my rage actually—about the member for Ryan being dumped for a younger male colleague. I also expressed my concern about the member for Gilmore, and the fact that her preselection was being challenged. I was pleased to see this morning that the issue of the member for Gilmore has actually been fixed. There has been an intervention there, and we are going to continue to see a woman in the ranks there. Those opposite, their record on women is appalling. As I said last night, what part of 51 per cent of the population do you not understand? So I just wanted to put on the record that I was actually pleased for the member for Gilmore to see that news today. It's such a tragedy though that there was no intervention for the member for Ryan. It's a huge loss to the government's expertise.

Labor's women's budget statement noted that in the Treasurer's budget speech there wasn't a single mention of Australian women. There is nothing in the budget that directly addresses women's structural economic disadvantages. Is it really that surprising, given the fact that there are so few women actually in the government who are advising on women's issues, who are challenging policies and suggesting that women actually be considered in the whole process? Their numbers are appalling anyway, and they're actually getting rid of women rather than adding to the numbers—it's just breathtaking. We've got this complete disdain for women, this complete contempt for women, not just borne out in the budget but also in the preselection actions of those opposite, and, as usual, complete and utter contempt and disdain for Canberra.

In last year's budget, Canberra received a dismal 0.004 per cent of the national infrastructure spend, and in this year's budget we received a pathetic 0.02 per cent share. At least that's an improvement from the 0.004 per cent of the spend last year, but I remind Canberrans that the spend was $3 million—whoopdee-doo!—and it was for facilities and maintenance. We're not talking roads here and we're not talking buildings here; we're talking about upgrading of lighting and facilities. And—oh!—there was a review as well. That was regarded as an infrastructure spend by those opposite.

With such a paltry share of the national infrastructure spend last year and this year, it should come as no surprise to Canberrans that they are also being left behind by this government when it comes to the NBN rollout, which is a major infrastructure project for all of Australia. I really don't think I have to remind Canberrans about that. My community suffers some of the worst internet speeds in the country. Almost two years ago I launched the 'Send Me Your Speeds' campaign to get firsthand information about how bad our internet speeds are. Since then, I've shared the experiences of hundreds of Canberrans who are struggling to run businesses, who are struggling to study at home or who are struggling to engage in banking and communication with download and upload speeds of less than one megabit per second.

Canberra has faced countless problems with the NBN rollout under this government—delay after delay, woeful internet speeds and a patchwork of technology, some within the same street. In Canberra we've got fibre to the node, fibre to the premises and fibre to the kerb, often in one street, and a broken technology choice program. The list goes on of the abysmal rollout of the NBN here in Canberra.

Canberra is frustrated about the endless promises from those opposite that have not been delivered. They're frustrated, because the government has overpromised and underdelivered once again. Canberra was nothing more than a big blank space on the NBN rollout map until early last year. After tireless campaigning for my community, we finally managed to get onto the rollout map, and Canberra was looking forward to getting decent internet speeds. We were due for NBN rollout in the first half of this year, but then the goalposts moved and we were advised that the NBN was going to roll out at the end of this year. The utter disregard for Canberra continued with yet another delay. Some areas now won't be connected until some time between June and September next year. It took forever for us to get on the NBN rollout map, and I thank the community for working with me to get us, finally, onto the rollout map. This is the national capital, and here we were as just one big blank space on the NBN rollout map for way too long. Then, when we finally get on the rollout map, to great excitement and looking forward to it actually coming, what do we get? Delay, after delay, after delay, after delay. While the rollout happens on the north side of Canberra and the infrastructure is duplicated in central Canberra, most suburbs on the south side, particularly in the south-east part of Tuggeranong, are forced to wait and wait and wait. It's a slap in the face for the Tuggeranong suburbs expecting to be connected this year. It's a kick in the guts for the people looking forward to finally having an internet service that the government tells them will work.

As I said, I have been running this 'Send Me Your Speeds' campaign for some time. I've heard from hundreds of Canberrans, not just in my electorate but also from right across the ACT, and the feedback has been mind-blowing. Here, in the nation's capital in 2018, we have households fewer than 15 kilometres from Parliament House that are getting less than one megabit per second download speeds. We're talking particularly about south-east Tuggeranong. One person wrote to me about her ADSL plan, running at about 38 megabits per second download and 0.81 upload with no dropouts. She said: 'We recently installed a wireless video doorbell. It will not work properly as it needs an upload speed of at least two megabits per second.' So her internet speeds are so woeful that she can't even run a doorbell to her home. That's how bad it is: she can't even run a doorbell here in parts of Canberra because the internet speeds are that bad.

Merryn, who lives in Conder, told me she's unable to watch streaming services or listen to music online with her speed of 3.73 megabits per second. Jane in Farrer gets a download speed of 0.89 megabits per second. Jason in Narrabundah gets a pathetic speed. Poor old Jason! I've documented Jason many a time. Listen to this. We're talking Narrabundah—five kays from here, if that. Five kays from Parliament House, poor old Jason, in Narrabundah in the nation's capital in 2018, is getting a pathetic 0.25 megabits per second.

The Canberra homes that have been connected to the NBN used to think they were the lucky ones. 'Finally,' they thought, 'this is the world-class internet that the Turnbull government has been promising me.' But it hasn't taken long for them to start tearing their hair out because of the frustrating, unreliable and out-of-date technology they've received. Thomas in Kambah says that, while his internet speeds have improved slightly on fibre-to-the-node NBN, it's a never-ending cycle of dropouts. First, there's no internet, so he reports it to his internet service provider. They monitor the connection and eventually they refer the issue to NBN. After a few days, the situation improves for a short time. And then the dropouts start again. Since switching to the NBN—again, this is breathtaking; this is in the nation's capital, in 2018, probably 10 to 15 kays from Parliament House—the longest time his internet has been running before it drops out is one day and 10 hours. This poor man has had an internet connection that has been consistent for one day and 10 hours—and, I can assure you, he is counting. With internet speeds delivered on the NBN that can't even operate a doorbell, how are Australian businesses—especially small businesses, especially in my electorate, only five, 10 or 15 kilometres from Parliament House—meant to achieve the success that they've been promised by this government and particularly by this Prime Minister?

This government has also created a digital divide in Canberra with its patchwork of technology, its second-rate copper and its lack of transparency in the rollout decisions. After campaigning tirelessly to get Canberra on the map, our next hurdle is the technology patchwork. A majority of homes in Canberra will get fibre to the node under the current NBN rollout, with some receiving fibre to the curb. Some homes may even be getting fibre to the premises. As I said, there are examples where we've got fibre to the curb, fibre to the premises and fibre to the node all in one street. Many people are reporting issues and slow speeds with the existing ADSL service, which relies on the existing copper lines.

So the question is: is there an upgrade plan for these copper lines? Who knows. When we ask these questions, we can't get any detail. During Senate estimates in February 2017, NBN Co said that there was no capital set aside to upgrade copper lines. So there's no detail in terms of what's actually happening there. At the moment there seems to be no money set aside for copper lines, and so that's just too bad for those who are experiencing these appalling speeds thanks to copper, because there is no plan, or no detail of any plan, for an upgrade to copper lines.

Fibre to the node is not new or impressive, and, as far as internet technologies go, it doesn't set the world on fire. It was initially deployed back in 2005, and countries such as Germany, the UK and New Zealand are now replacing the service with the more reliable fibre to the premises. Just think about that: it has been 13 years since this technology was first deployed internationally, and the countries that have deployed it have since moved on—they've upgraded. And what are we doing? We're building a second-rate copper NBN that costs more and does less. It's just breathtaking how this government expects us to be an innovation nation when we're dealing with this sort of technology based on copper. It's breathtaking.

Canberrans can't get high quality, reliable NBN even when they try. The Technology Choice Program was created to give consumers the choice to upgrade their technology if they were willing to pay for it. But, in addition to constant delays, poor speeds and continuous dropouts, the Technology Choice Program is another failure by this Turnbull government.

Gleneagles Estate has been negotiating with NBN Co for more than two years about upgrading the NBN. The estate currently has fibre to the node, but after consultation most of the residents decided they wanted to upgrade to fibre to the premises. In December 2014 the estate was quoted between $800,000 and $1 million. In 2017 that figure was updated to between $800,000 and $2 million. The estate challenged the figures and a revised amount of $76,000 was required to proceed with the design and quote. Even if you want choice, the cost of getting that choice is ridiculously prohibitive.

Canberrans are absolutely frustrated with this government's lack of a plan for the NBN, the fact we're constantly being delayed in terms of the rollout and the fact we've got this patchwork of technologies. So much for an 'innovation nation'. How can Canberrans do that when they can't even get a service that's going to ring their doorbell?

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