Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce share a political message: 'If you don't vote for us, the kid gets it!' Just as the Nationals could not support SPC in Shepparton—because they did not vote National in Shepparton—the Minister for Communications has endorsed removing the suburbs of Bassendean, Beechboro, Eden Hill, Kiara, Lockridge, Morley and Ashfield from the NBN's rollout plan; presumably, because they voted Labor, their NBN gets it!

These suburbs were scheduled to have the NBN rolled out to their homes and businesses in 2014—a real commitment. The work to upgrade the Bassendean exchange, as a necessary part of this project, has been completed at the cost of some of millions of dollars. On any analysis, these suburbs are those that must rank most highly: not only has the precursor work been done, but all but one of those areas has been ranked as having the lowest download and upload speeds in the country; with the remaining one ranked second-lowest. The press release talks about transparency in the construction timetable—but there is nothing transparent about how these selections have been made. It looks a lot like the old, low-tech whiteboard has been wheeled out, there in the office of the Minister for Communications—and perhaps that is appropriate, given the dumbed-down technology that is going to be delivered in any event. (Time expired)