Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to condemn the government for again leaving Bendigo off the NBN rollout map. Bendigo is the second-biggest regional city in Victoria and again has been left off the map. What is with this government that they do not understand that so much of our lives is on the line right now and Bendigo is being left behind the digital divide. Minister Malcolm Turnbull was in Bendigo last year and he said that the NBN would be rolled out to Bendigo, and that they would roll it out faster and cheaper and sooner. I do agree with the minister on one thing: it is definitely cheaper than the Labor plan, because the cost of zero construction is zero dollars. If Labor had been elected, we were on the map. Bendigo was on the map. We were going to receive the NBN, but, to this day and this moment, this government has not listed Bendigo on the map.

There are some very confusing things about what has been going on. I do have a few questions for the minister. First of all, 5,400 homes on Mount Macedon will apparently receive the NBN. There are not 5,400 homes on Mount Macedon, so I am confused. My question to the minister is: is there a secret plan to develop Mount Macedon. Is he about to start training racehorses? Are they about to develop Mount Macedon? The plan that was released a few days ago was a simple disgrace. It does not deliver the NBN that is needed in Central Victoria. I call the government to— (Time expired)