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

If Sir Robert Menzies were here today to see the way the modern Liberal Party treats Canberra, he would be appalled. They cut jobs. They cut services. They cut entire families out of Canberra and move them into electorates where they think they need the votes. He would not recognise this Liberal Party, because this Liberal Party does not care about Canberra. Everywhere you look you can see how far the Liberal Party of Menzies has fallen. Sir Robert Menzies said he would build up Canberra in the eyes and minds of the Australian people—a capital worthy of a nation. Since then, the so-called party of Menzies has set about trashing that vision of Sir Robert Menzies. They have taken the razor to thousands of jobs in the Public Service. They took the razor to tens of thousands of jobs in the Public Service in 1996. In 1996 John Howard's cuts plunged Canberra into an economic downturn that took us years to recover from. And they have done it again. The very next chance they get is another opportunity to have a kick at Canberra.

There is the government's unparalleled hostility towards Australia's national institutions, many of which are located in my electorate of Canberra: the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum,

the Museum of Australian Democracy, the Film and Sound Archive and the National Library. They have all been forced to absorb a massive and misguided cut, starting with more than $3 million this financial year. This is on top of the $20 million already cut from these institutions by this regressive and reactionary government. Make no mistake: this government's cuts are a matter of priorities and nothing else. They say there is no money and these cuts had to happen. But when it comes to an expensive, divisive and unnecessary plebiscite on marriage equality, which will end up with a parliamentary vote anyway, it seems that money is no object.

Then there is infrastructure. We have a government that only ever talks about public infrastructure and a Prime Minister that only ever tweets about it. The vision of this government's infrastructure agenda has a significant blind spot, and it is the shape and size of Canberra. Canberrans are sick of having their hopes raised and dashed, time and again, by a Prime Minister who promises rolled gold and delivers rusted copper. The latest three-year construction plan released by NBN Co shows some of Canberra's worst internet black spots have been overlooked once again. We are not even on the rollout map. And when it comes to both availability and quality of broadband, some of Canberra's worst internet black spots are also nation's worst—the nation's worst in the nation's capital.

We have some of the worst internet connections in the whole country, connections that are even worse than regional and remote Australia. We are talking 20 kilometres from Parliament House. We have some of the worst connections in the country. This is significantly inhibiting Canberrans' ability to take part in education, small business and active citizenry. The NBN was supposed to be available two years ago. But not only did this government fail to meet that deadline; it scrapped the deadline altogether. So, we have actually gone backwards. When the Prime Minister promised to roll out the government's copper NBN faster and cheaper, he took that commitment and then he ran the other way—the other way from 'fast', the other way from 'cheap', and the other way, as is so typical of Liberal governments, from Canberra.

So, even if you ignore the Turnbull government's appalling treatment of the staff at the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, ripping whole families out of homes, schools, jobs and communities to shamelessly pork barrel the Deputy Prime Minister's own electorate, even if you ignore the Turnbull government's cuts to public service jobs, and even if you ignore the Turnbull government's defunding of treasured cultural and national institutions—defunding institutions that bring together a nation, while funding a plebiscite that seeks to divide it—even ignoring all of that, one look at the handling of the NBN is enough to prove that the Liberal government does not care about Canberra.

But Canberrans do not need more evidence. Canberrans need action. So I am asking Canberrans to show the party of Menzies what they are doing to the vision of Menzies. I am asking Canberrans to show the Turnbull government what living with some of the worst internet speeds in the country actually looks like. If you are sick of a weak internet connection, courtesy of a weak Prime Minister, send a screenshot of your internet speeds to my office. I will collect the responses and I will present them to the government. Send me your speeds and send the government a message that it cannot ignore, because only the Labor Party can be trusted to fight for Canberra. (Time expired)