Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's annual report, released today, reveals that the number of complaints about the NBN has more than doubled and that internet services are now the highest source of complaints? Given that we're in the fifth year of the Prime Minister's mismanagement of the NBN, isn't it clear that Australians are suffering with a second-rate NBN and that the Prime Minister is entirely to blame?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the honourable member for his question because it gives me an opportunity to remind honourable members once again that every 10 days the NBN, under our government, is connecting more Australians than Labor did in six years. We're connecting between 30,000 and 40,000 premises a week. There are now three million customers connected.

Ms Madeleine King interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Brand has been warned. She was warned very clearly. She will leave under 94(a).

The member for Brand then left the chamber.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The NBN is now available at over six million premises around Australia. It is on track to be completed by 2020. It's well past the halfway mark. It is going to be completed for $30 billion less than Labor would have spent, every dollar of which would have had to be repaid by higher fees to Australian customers. And it will be completed six to eight years earlier.

The Minister for Communications and I are very keenly aware that a number of Australians—a relatively small figure in percentage terms, but because of the scale of the network it amounts to increasing numbers of people—are having bad experiences with installation and are not getting the speeds they have paid for. We are addressing that every day. We're in touch with the company dealing with it and ensuring through the ACCC that people get the plans they've paid for and that the installation experience is improved.

The NBN was a complete and utter train wreck when we came into government. There was no transparency, and billions of dollars were wasted under Stephen Conroy's appalling leadership. Every week we put up all of the rollout figures so Australians can see how it's progressing. It's rolling out at an unprecedented rate. The rate of complaints has increased because the number of customers has increased too. The more customers you have, the more complaints you'll have. What we are doing is bringing that down by ensuring that it delivers great service. That's our commitment. NBN Co was a wreck when we inherited it, but we're now making it happen. It's an example of strong, hard-headed business leadership based on economics and engineering. It's taking a hard-headed approach to it, just as we have done with energy policy. Labor was all ideology and all politics when it came to the NBN, and the cost was paid in billions. They have done the same thing with energy and, again, the cost is paid in billions and lost jobs and hardship for Australian families.