Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By now, my parliamentary colleagues would have heard me speaking about my constituents' frustrations when it comes to the NBN. They would have heard me talking about it—and they would have heard me shouting about it in question time—many, many times. They will know that Canberrans, especially those in the very south of my electorate in Tuggeranong, are incredibly frustrated. They are incredibly frustrated because not only do they not have access to the NBN but they are not even on the map. These Canberrans—particularly those in the southern part of my electorate—are not even on the NBN rollout map.

When the latest rollout map was released, the residents of Tuggeranong, like millions of other Australians, eagerly typed their addresses into the website, and they were absolutely appalled to see that they were not there. And there was no indication of when the NBN would come to them—nothing; just one big blank space. There were lots of nice dots everywhere else in Australia, but just one big blank space for the southern part of my electorate.

The reason this is so frustrating is that parts of my electorate of Canberra have the lowest rating for availability and quality of broadband in the country—the lowest in the country! We are talking it being on a par with regional and remote Australia. We are talking lowest in terms of accessibility, availability and quality of broadband in the country, and here we are in the nation's capital. You drive down the road 10 or 15 kilometres and you have the lowest broadband in the country in terms of availability and quality—10 or 15 kilometres down the road from the nation's Parliament House. It is absolutely outrageous!

Under Labor, every home in the ACT would have had access to Labor's world-class fibre-to-the-premises NBN, but under this government the residents of Tuggeranong are stuck with terrible internet access—and no idea of if or when they will get access to the Prime Minister's second-rate fibre-to-the node version of the NBN.

The residents of Tuggeranong are fed up. Just wait until you hear these quotes. As I said, do not take it from me. The residents of Tuggeranong are absolutely fed up, and the letters that they send me each day about the experiences—or the lack of experiences—they are having, in terms of connectivity, are breathtaking, considering that we are talking 10 or 15 kilometres down the road from Parliament House in the nation's capital.

These are some of the letters I have received in recent months. Geoff says: 'We cannot even get ADSL2 service, although we are paying for a higher-end service. If we are serious about becoming a clever and innovative country, it starts with having top-end infrastructure. Don't cut us short.'

Rebecca says: 'I am so tired of living in a fantastic area that has broadband far, far worse than I got while living in Brisbane 10 years ago.' Ten years ago! She continues: 'Some nights my broadband is so slow I can't download text emails.' We are talking 10 or 15 kilometres from Parliament House. Rebecca continues: 'How is this acceptable in 2015? I am about to commence university studies online and I will need to be able to view or listen to lectures and download/upload large files. Please make this possible!'

Roger wrote: 'It's a situation verging on the tragic.' And it is. 'Only fast internet will allow us to compete on an equal footing with countries like South Korea. The NBN has the potential to transform our economy, to create new jobs and businesses and cut urban congestion and pollution. But it's still off in cloud-cuckoo-land for many. Along with thousands of other people in the ACT, I'm starting to wonder if I will ever see higher-speed internet. Contacts in Melbourne are already on the NBN and think my speed is a joke.' And it is a joke. Roger went on: 'Canberra should be a high priority because of our government and tertiary education sectors.'

And it is not just our government and tertiary education sectors. We are home to the nation's cultural institutions. We are home to embassies from all over the world. We are home to the CSIRO and major scientific institutions. And what have we got here? We have got internet speeds where this woman, Rebecca, cannot even download a text email. As Roger says, the government is still off in cloud-cuckoo-land when it comes to the NBN and the connectivity of the nation's capital.

Mary wrote: 'It is very sad for a country like Australia to not be more advanced in our technologies. To think that parts of our capital city do not have access to the NBN is so backward.'

Glen said: 'Under the original NBN rollout plan, my suburb was to get NBN in May 2013.' May 2013—we are not even on the map! He continued: 'Still waiting for an acceptable alternative, with nothing on the horizon to give hope. Is it time to move to the Northside?'

Glen is not alone. On more than one occasion, Canberrans have told me that they are considering moving house, and even moving out of town, because their current internet access is so bad, and under this government they have no idea if or when it will improve—no idea. There is just one big blank space—that is the southern part of the electorate of Canberra when it comes to the NBN rollout map. There is no certainty whatsoever. And they cannot wait forever.

Faced with this understandable frustration in my community, last year I started a petition on behalf of Canberrans who wanted to know when they would be on the map. And last December I presented a petition, signed by 774 Canberrans and more have signed since, calling for the minister to take action. When presenting the petition, I asked of the minister: 'Please prioritise Canberra's NBN rollout. Our situation is bleak, as you have heard. It is dire, and we are being left behind.' My colleagues may have heard me speak about this petition in the House of Representatives last week. I was lamenting the fact that more than two months had passed and I was yet to receive a response from the minister.

Well perhaps I was speaking too soon, or someone from his office was actually listening because that very afternoon, last Thursday, the long awaited response arrived. And what a disappointment it was. The minister's response stretches over three pages but does not tell me a thing. In his response, the minister states that in 2013 the then Department of Communications completed a broadband quality and availability project, which was an analysis of the broadband quality and availability across the country. The minister acknowledges that this survey found parts of the Tuggeranong Valley 'had lower ratings for broadband quality and availability' and were 'considered underserved.' No kidding, Minister!

The minister proudly states that 'the coalition government is prioritising underserved homes and business in the NBN rollout' and that 'by 2017-18 more than 65 per cent of these underserved homes and business will be able to order a service on the NBN.' But not the residents of Tuggeranong. That 65 per cent does not include the electorate of Canberra and those parts of Tuggeranong. The Prime Minister promised that those areas with the worst internet access would be prioritised in this rollout, but when it comes to our nation's capital he has abandoned that promise. Canberrans are rightly furious. I know they are not alone. As communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull bad 2½ years to do one job and what do we have to show for it? We have missed targets, cost blowouts, and broken promises. As of February 19, nbn co completed 29,000 of its fibre-to-the-node projects, less than a third of its target of 94,000 premises.

Back when he was the shadow minister for communications, The Prime Minister went to an election promising an NBN that he could roll out faster and cheaper. Today's leaked report shows the scheme is not cheaper, and it is not coming anytime soon. And it ain't certainly coming any time soon to the southern part of my electorate. The whole point of the coalition's severely compromised NBN scheme was to take design shortcuts and hope it makes the rollout process faster. Cut corners, get there sooner was the strategy. That was their plan. And today, we find that it is these very shortcuts that are causing so much of the problem. They ditched fibre to the premises in favour of the fibre to the node alternative. The report shows that the bottlenecks and the delays being felt by so many disappointed families and businesses are due to that foolish miscalculation. The Prime Minister cut corners thinking he was cutting costs. Instead we have a project delivering a sub-par, second-rate service and it can barely even manage to do that.

The Prime Minister promised us that the whole country would have access to the NBN in 2016. Barely more than one in eight Australians has access to their Indian today . Mismanagement is too kind word for this. The only thing that is slower than the Prime Minister's rollout of the NBN is the speed of his NBN's connection itself. The few people who have had fibre-to-the-node rolled out to their homes are finding their internet speeds falling much further behind. We always knew the Liberal's NBN was going to be second-rate. They promised a second-rate service, and boy, are they delivering one. Tuggeranong is not even on the rollout map. (Time expired)