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

It is official: after 18 months of campaigning, after two petitions to the government and another underway, after numerous letters to the minister, after countless speeches in the parliament and after hundreds of Canberrans taking part in my Send Me Your Speeds campaign, my electorate is finally on the NBN rollout map.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Thank you. I have been fighting for Canberra to be prioritised on the map for 18 months, after being left off update after update. I have been fighting for Canberra to be prioritised on the map because some suburbs, particularly in the southeast Tuggeranong area, have some of the slowest upload and download speeds in the country. We are talking less than one megabit per second in the nation's capital, just 20 kilometres from this very Parliament House, in 2017.

I am calling Canberra's presence on the rollout map a victory. It has been 18 months in the making and I am feeling pretty proud today. Over the last few years it has been one big empty space, thanks to this Turnbull government. That said, I am not resting on my laurels. I want Canberra to know why we are getting a patchwork of technologies, often in the same suburb or street.

In Chisholm, some people will get fibre to the premises while others will get fibre to the node. In Gordon, some people will get fibre to the kerb while others will get fibre to the node. In Theodore, one of the suburbs with the worst internet speeds, some areas will get fibre to the kerb and others will get fibre to the premises or fibre to the node. So we have three different technologies rolling out over Theodore, often in the same street—one technology on one side of the street and another technology on the other.

I know the devil is in the detail and in the NBN delivering, so I will continue to campaign on this issue and encourage Canberrans to continue to send me their speeds. I want to ensure that parts of my community who are the most disadvantaged, those with one megabit per second speeds, will finally be able to access an internet service that will allow them to do the things that others outside the nation's capital take for granted: to work or run a small business from home—not a big ask; to download homework, research or study—not a big ask; to sell or shop online; to access government services; and to participate in the community. To be active citizens in the community requires decent download and upload speeds. I do not want to see one area in a suburb have worse internet speeds than a neighbour in the next street. That would be no different to what we have got now. So I am going to continue to campaign on this. Please, Canberra, send me your speeds.