Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was so excited when I saw the National Broadband Network Companies Amendment (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024 being presented to the House of Representatives. I was so excited because so many constituents in my electorate have challenges with the National Broadband Network, and I thought that having a bill dealing with the National Broadband Network would be a great opportunity to address some of those challenges that people have—the Australians who have been left behind who have an inability to connect to the NBN. I thought that was what this bill would be all about. That is certainly the urgent issue with relation to the NBN in my community.

But then I read the bill. I looked at it closely, and I saw that actually it didn't do any of those things. This bill, rather than addressing those things, is a political stunt. It's a symptom of a government that has run out of ideas and run out of puff. There's no agenda in this bill to reform the NBN and no agenda here to help Australians who have been left behind. This bill is a bill to save the Labor Party from the Labor Party. It's a bill to stop the privatisation of the NBN, the sale of which was contemplated by the Labor Party at the time they were in government in the Gillard years. It was Minister Conroy who said in his press release of 22 November 2010, 'The Gillard government remains firmly committed to selling its stake in the NBN Co after the network was fully built and operational, subject to market conditions and security considerations.'

The now Prime Minister was the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport at the time the bill was presented, and it's interesting reading his speech on the National Broadband Network Companies Bill 2010, where he said that the bill:

… also sets out arrangements for the eventual sale of the Commonwealth's stake in the company once the NBN rollout is complete, including provisions for independent and parliamentary reviews prior to any privatisation, and for the parliament to have the final say on the sale. The bill also creates a power for the Governor-General to make regulations concerning future private ownership and control of NBN Co. Ltd, and establishes other relevant reporting, governance and enforcement mechanisms.

Minister Albanese, as he then was, goes on to say:

There is no longer a requirement that NBN Co. Ltd must be sold within five years of it being declared built and fully operational. Rather the time frame for any sale is left to the judgment of the government and parliament of the day, enabling due regard to the role the NBN is playing, market conditions and any other relevant factors.

The idea of selling the NBN was very much a Labor idea at the time that the NBN bills were first enacted. So the idea that this is being put forward is quite strange to me. You have to remember the genesis of the NBN was very much a slapdash effort on behalf of the then government. Minister Conroy, as he then was, had to fly around on the prime ministerial plane to get the Prime Minister's attention, and he put the idea of the NBN on the back of a napkin, famously. That's how this all started. So it is unsurprising that, yet again, another idea developed on the back of a napkin, which is this bill, is being presented to the House.

This bill is a political scare from the Labor Party, who has run out of ideas and sought to play politics. We've seen them run these sorts of scares before. We saw it in the 2016 election with 'Mediscare'. This bill is 'telescare'. It's an idea that somehow there are people who want to privatise the NBN and it must be stopped. But it's rubbish. This bill is a complete scare and a complete scam. It's like the scams you get when you're texted or called by people from around the world, except what makes this so tragic is that this is legislation.

What's next from this government? Are we going to get a bill for an act to prevent the privatisation of His Majesty the King? That would be 'monarch scare'. Are we going to get a bill for an act to prevent the privatisation of this parliament? That would be 'parliscare'. Or are we going to get a bill for an act to prevent the privatisation of the ADF? That would be 'digger scare'. This is symptomatic of a government that has run out of ideas and run out of puff.

The truth is that people are deserting the NBN in droves. People in my community, particularly, are deserting the NBN in droves. We know this because of the satellite figures. NBN satellite figures show it is down to 85,000 customers. Starlink, its major competitor—a heroic company to many people in my community who could not connect to the NBN but have opted to go with Starlink—is now at 270,000 customers.

You don't need to believe me when I say this bill does absolutely nothing. You can believe the minister herself in her second reading speech on this bill, where she said, 'This bill would not change the operation of the NBN.' It does nothing to make people's lives better and it does nothing to make people's service better in relation to the NBN. She also said, 'Since the government has no intention to sell the NBN, there's no requirement for a legislative sale scheme.' So, given the government has got no intention to sell the NBN, why are we wasting precious parliamentary time on these things? This is a Seinfeld bill. It's a bill about nothing from a Seinfeld government—a government about nothing.

I want to talk about some of the real challenges Australians are facing today with the NBN that should be the subject of this bill. They are challenges that I have raised with this minister repeatedly since this government came to office, in 2022. I have to say the minister has been very polite and listened to me and so on, but we haven't got the action. So there are still people in my community who are dealing with inadequate NBN services, which is making their lives very difficult.

I wrote to the minister as early as 22 August 2022, asking her to look at upgrades and different technology choices for the people who are at Knights Road, Galston, at Fuggles Road and Orana Road, Kenthurst, and at Dural East, all of whom had said that the technology solution that had been proposed for them was inadequate because they were on fixed wireless and they were looking for fixed line. I'll explain why fixed wireless was inadequate. It's particularly because of the topography of those areas in my electorate and because of the tree canopy, which make the fixed wireless service the wrong sort of service. What we were looking for were more place based solutions, which would have been available—had the Morrison government been re-elected—as part of the regional telecommunications report which was led by Luke Hartsuyker and which had a particular focus on peri-urban communications in electorates like mine around Australia. So I met with the minister shortly thereafter, and I went back to her again a year later to describe some of the issues that still remained in relation to the NBN in my community.

I want to tell the House about some of the issues that I raised with the minister—issues which are still unresolved today. The lack of consistency and the quality of coverage across various NBN technologies has impacted people's lives in my community in terms of their needs, like doing schoolwork, and accessing medical services and technology. My electorate has all three NBN technologies: fixed line, fixed wireless and satellite. Consumers largely don't have a say in which technology is delivered, but the quality of service they get is radically different. The peri-urban areas of the electorate experience the worst communication issues, and many of them have reported being unable to complete schooling, to run local businesses or to access medical services and being cut off from communications. Key issues with the NBN that contribute are constant slow speeds and performance, inability to connect, planned and unplanned dropouts, degrading infrastructure and unreliable communications with telcos.

This isn't a Third World country. This isn't some remote location in Australia; this is metropolitan Sydney. I talked about Knights Road, Galston. In that area, the residents are served by fixed wireless. As I said, the topography and the tree coverage makes that technology an inappropriate choice for the NBN. Residents who couldn't connect through fixed wireless were told to use satellite but couldn't connect. The lack of telecommunications infrastructure was exemplified by the resident with the tower for the fixed wireless service on her property being unable to connect to the NBN. At my urgings, NBN then organised their top technician to visit the property and examine the situation. The resulting examination confirmed that they couldn't connect to the NBN at their own property. This is what people in my community are dealing with, and this is why we need an NBN bill that actually deals with some of these issues—not these political stunts.

I want to tell the House the story of Northholm Grammar, one of the great schools of my electorate. Northholm Grammar at Arcadia is heavily impacted by poor telecommunications. Presently—and we're talking 2024 now—there is no NBN technology available to them that would allow them to operate effectively, as the fixed wireless that's available to them would not meet the school's needs. Many areas of the school, including primary school classrooms, have zero mobile coverage. This presents significant challenges for staff and students and, additionally, is a major safety issue. Teaching and administrative work are heavily impacted by poor internet connection, and this is currently the primary focus of the school board and the wider school community, as it heavily hinders the standard of education that the children are receiving.

Independent service providers have advised Northholm Grammar that the school needs a 1,000 megabits up/1,000 megabits down link in order to operate effectively and that this should be delivered over a reliable technology, such as fibre. But, currently, the fastest plan available on the NBN is 75 megabits per second up and 10 megabits per second down. The school has outsourced and connected via a private ISP but is only getting 200 up/200 down as a connection. The minister knows these problems because I raised them with her more than a year ago, but we've seen no action, and those problems continue today. They continue in other areas as well.

While the government is spending more time trying to create a distraction around the NBN rather than addressing the issues my constituents are facing, this government's politicking has taken precedence over delivery of fixing issues, and I hear about them almost every day. Take Chris from Castle Hill, for example. Chris has experienced nine interruptions over a one-month period from 6 November to 5 December last year. His wife also had her business disrupted when her office internet and phone were cut off. My office raised the issue with Telstra, who advised it was an NBN issue and recommended that we contact the NBN. The NBN then recommended that Chris contact Telstra and go through them. It's the classic bureaucratic runaround that so many Australians get with the NBN.

Take Ron from Berowra Heights, who had his house disconnected from the NBN last year to allow for building works. Ron was then unable to have it reconnected. He inquired with Telstra and the NBN multiple times to ask that he be connected, only to be told he was connected. This wasn't the case. A technician was meant to attend his house on 28 February but never attended. This government committed to customer service, yet what have we seen? A real lack of it, despite us raising these issues with the minister and with NBN.

Alfons lives in Galston. He contacted Telstra to have the NBN connected to his property. When they arrived, NBN were unable to install the service. They were unable to decide how and where to install the service. One side of the property had too many trees and the other was too close to the solar panels. After they checked everywhere on the property, all services to the local tower were declared poor services. This is not an issue his neighbours, all of whom have more trees on their properties and already have fixed wireless installed, have faced. NBN has now listed the property as satellite only, and Telstra is unable to assist due to this. Alfons wants NBN to check the other towers in the area but is unable to contact NBN, and Telstra is unable to assist due to the 'satellite only' label.

These are real problems that real Australians are facing while we're debating this Seinfeld bill. This government is spending time putting together a bill for a political fight instead of fixing the problems in my community and trying to help people like Barbara from Arcadia. Barbara's family home is stuck on dial-up internet that drops out multiple times a day. They have four mobile phones in their house, and all need internet to get mobile connection. Barbara is unable to access 4G in her own home.

Perhaps the minister might spend some time working to solve the issues of Alan in Cherrybrook. Alan has internet disruptions, so he contacted his internet provider, who advised the issue was with NBN. When my office reached out to the NBN, they were advised that it wasn't an NBN issue and that, if it was, Alan should go through his provider, who would then contact NBN. Rabbit holes are the only way that NBN seems to deal with these issues, and ultimately the government, as owner of NBN, is responsible.

This government's lack of commitment to delivering the NBN is slowing down people's education. For instance, David had his NBN cut and was unable to get an alternative service through his provider, who scheduled NBN to install a connection. Due to David's location at Berowra Waters, the NBN refused to attend and cited a lack of commercial access and site safety concerns. David was himself willing to hire a barge or a water taxi to resolve the problem. David has had to purchase Starlink services to gain access to the internet but is struggling with access due to the cliff in his back yard blocking access. He is now attempting to lift the antenna higher in order to gain internet access. David relies on the internet to do his university course, as Australians who are studying all over this country do.

When my constituents next get in touch with me about the issues they're having with the NBN, I'll remind them this government is committed to political bills like this one and wasting this parliament's time rather than fixing their issues. There are real challenges that our community faces with the NBN, particularly in my community of Berowra and throughout the peri-urban areas where the NBN connection is inadequate and where the quality of service that NBN is providing to those people who want to upgrade their connection is completely absent. We need a government that is serious about ensuring that all Australians have access to the NBN and is focusing this parliament's time, as it should be focused, on improving the access of Australians rather than on political stunts like this bill.

See this speech in context