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

This week last year the VCAT in Victoria rejected the planning application to build an NBN tower in Mount Camel. VCAT overturned a planning approval to build this tower, which would have seen the people around Heathcote get fast speed broadband. The decision had an impact on four other towers that were in fact built in 2013. As a result, people in the north of the City of Greater Bendigo, to this date, still do not have access to NBN. A year on, nbn co and this government have failed. They have failed to find an engineering solution for the problem.

Four towers were to be connected to the Mount Camel tower. The Mount Camel tower was to be the relay tower for these other four towers. To this day an engineering solution has not been found. It is a disgrace that a year on the people in this area are still waiting. There is no plan and no solution has been found. Nbn co continue to extend the date, to say it will be another six months time. Quite frankly, that is not good enough. We are calling on the minister to step in to fix this crisis that we have.

I have been inundated with people in this area sharing their experiences with me because of the failure of these towers to be switched on.: 'Eppalock,' which is one of the areas affected, 'does not even have the internet,' one person complains. Another person from Eppalock says: 'I live in Eppalock and I can't get the internet, making it very hard for my children to do their schoolwork. It works fine between 12 pm and 7 am, but who is up at two o'clock in the morning to do their studies?'

There are also issues in Ladys Pass. There are also issues in Goornong. Farming communities want access to the internet so that they can get on with doing the basics of tasks. Sarah Caroline said she completely agrees: 'We only live six kilometres from Strathfieldsaye and our children can't get access to the same education programs as their peers.' They are six kilometres from Bendigo, yet because of the failure to turn these towers on they do not have access to the internet.

It is not just the north of the electorate that has these issues. There are also many parts of Bendigo and many parts of other council areas like Castlemaine, Woodend and Kyneton. On one street in Woodend alone, there are four different ways that people have been able to access very slow internet. It is not one service; there are four. Some have satellite, some have ADSL1, some have ADSL2, some have mobile and others have been told there is no internet service available. It is a mess and this government must act to clean it up. (Time expired)