Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise yet again the appalling state of broadband provision within Australia. In particular, I want to highlight two cases within the electorate of Scullin. I remind members that Scullin is an outer northern suburbs electorate of Melbourne. In fact, the areas that I will talk about are some 18½ kilometres from the GPO; it would take only about 40 minutes to drive out there from the GPO. These suburbs are not out in rural and remote Australia; they are very much a part of the metropolitan heartland of the second biggest city in Australia.

Here we confront the problem of not having seen a response from the present government showing that it understands our problem with the provision of broadband in this country. In fact, taking the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts on her word, she mistakenly believes that the services provided in metropolitan Melbourne are adequate. I would say that for people in a new estate such as Botanica Park, which is just above the Northern Ring Road—as I have said, it is less than 20 kilometres from the Melbourne GPO—civilisation, as we know it in metropolitan Melbourne, goes on for a further eight kilometres. Over many years I have tried to get an understanding from providers like Telstra that they need to be much more savvy in the way in which they have put in place access to broadband.

I remind the House that we are talking about slow forms of access to broadband; we are not talking about great speeds. However, constituents like my constituent Angelina Luppino, who cannot get access to ADSL broadband, has been told that she should go out, lobby some of her neighbours and get at least 25 signatures and Telstra will then consider perhaps putting in another RIM or the like. What is really required is a plan such as the Labor Party proposes: to have cable to the node to enable high-speed broadband. That is what people like Angelina Luppino and her student son are looking for.

I received an email recently from Mr Craig Lewellyn from Lynch Avenue in the College Views estate, which is located just below the Northern Ring Road. He knows what he is talking about because he actually works in the industry. He has moved into a new area—an infill development in the northern suburbs of Melbourne—and has been told that he cannot get ADSL connection. BigPond have suggested that he get a wireless broadband connection but, as has been highlighted in the many debates on this subject, that is at a price of around $150 per month, not including start-up costs. So why is it that people—such as the two I have mentioned—who move into and live in infill developments in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, are being told that they will be denied the same type of ADSL broadband access had by people in neighbouring streets but older estates?

Just to illustrate the point, I seek leave to have this map incorporated in Hansard. I know that asking for this map to be incorporated is outside of the guidelines and it probably cannot be achieved, but I am willing to attempt it on this occasion. If I fail in that, I seek leave for the map to be tabled as a document.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

This map shows the position of these two streets, just above and below the Northern Ring Road. What we really do need to make Australia competitive is to make sure that the next delivery vehicle of broadband is a cable network that is accessible by the maximum number of Australians. Unfortunately, the ‘fraudband’ wireless WiMAX solution that the government has offered is not going to work. It is not going to work on the technicalities. It is especially not going to work in rural areas, where there are going to be matters of topography to tackle. It is not going to work and it will not bring any comfort to constituents like mine, such as Mr Llewellyn and Mrs Luppino, who live in metropolitan Melbourne and cannot even get access to what I call steam train broadband. (Time expired)