Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a speech I'd rather not be giving, but unfortunately I rise today to speak about the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's 2016-17 annual report and its really damning findings. I could have told them what they were going to find, because my electorate of Macarthur is No. 1 in Australia for complaints, and that's just the Campbelltown area. There are many more complaints from other postcodes in the area as well. The report, which was recently published, is a terrible indictment of Malcolm Turnbull's failed second-rate National Broadband Network.

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

I say to the member for Macarthur that he needs to refer to members by their correct titles.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a terrible indictment of the Prime Minister's failed second-rate National Broadband Network—thank you, Mr Speaker—with countless complaints made in relation to poor service over the NBN and delays in connection to the NBN. The report identifies postcodes which are hotspots for telecommunications response. Sadly, it comes as no surprise to me that Campbelltown is at the top of the list. With 769 complaints lodged with the TIO from Campbelltown and countless others that would inevitably have been lodged from surrounding suburbs within my electorate, the Prime Minister and his Minister for Communications have sorely let down my constituents and many others around Australia. I know their concerns only too well. I hear from my constituents daily when they contact my office and are in need of help because of the Prime Minister's botched NBN.

The complaints and issues vary in shapes and sizes. However, a significant number of my residents have had truly appalling experiences with the NBN. I'm particularly concerned about the way elderly members of my electorate are being treated. They've faced significant hardship at the hands of this government with apparently very little care. Many constituents have completely lost access to their landlines, at times for weeks on end. A number of constituents have medical priorities listed on their accounts with their respective providers and, thus, were never supposed to be left without a working telephone. I recall receiving many responses from the government on the occasions when I have raised my concerns with them which barely fall short of demanding that my elderly constituents—some very elderly—go out and purchase a smartphone. The problems with that are that the elderly do not necessarily know how to use the technology, pensioners cannot afford to simply go out and buy a new phone and areas of my electorate have very poor cellular phone coverage.

It's not just the elderly this government has failed. I have even had local businesses lose out as a result of this poorly managed rollout and the poor technology. What the government fails to appreciate is that, when you accidentally cut a small business's landline and telephone access, you cut all communication with their customers and stop them from performing even simple transactions by EFTPOS, fax, the internet and telephone. Many of the small businesses have had to send staff home because they cannot conduct their business without NBN access. When the government explains to them that this may well be a problem with their provider rather than the NBN, they're left with what is like a ping-pong match, with a ball that bounces back and forth between the NBN and the providers. It is enormously frustrating at times. Sometimes it takes hours to get onto NBN staff or providers.

Local residents and businesses do not know who to turn to when they have issues with the NBN. There's constant buck-passing. It seems to me that NBN Co is intent on pushing all accountability back onto providers and often the matters ends up being referred back to the NBN and to my office. Earlier this year, we were forced to run an NBN forum to try to deal with the hundreds of complaints we were receiving. It was standing room only. We couldn't fit everyone into the large council hall to hear all the complaints.

I think Malcolm Turnbull needs to take a note out of Harry Truman's—

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

The member for Macarthur—

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I apologise. The Prime Minister would do well to take a note out of President Harry Truman's book and erect a sign on his desk declaring, 'The buck stops here,' because it's not getting stopped anywhere else in his cabinet and certainly not by the NBN. I might even start up a GoFundMe page to pay for the plaque. No doubt the Prime Minister would like to have it gold plated; however, I suspect— (Time expired)