Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Time after time, we hear more revelations about this out-of-touch Turnbull government's sham copper based NBN—that's right, the internet network of the future that's using centuries-old copper wire. In my electorate, Lee is a constituent who lives in Sunnybank Hills. He contacted me about his rubbish broadband connection. Most of the Moreton electorate was planned for HFC connections, and I refer to reports in Fairfax earlier about further delays in NBN Co providing advice about when the HFC rollout will be working again. As it stands, most of Moreton has an indefinite wait for the NBN.

But Lee in Sunnybank Hills already has a fibre-to-the-node connection available to his suburb. He explains that he has not been contacted by his telco outlining options to take an NBN connection, but, from his own research, an NBN connection is significantly more expensive for no guarantee of a better product. His current connection is too slow. Off peak, he can barely get 10 megabits per second, but in the afternoon or in peak times this slows down to six megabits per second. He told me that sometimes it's even too slow to reliably check emails. Six megabits per second is a far cry from the 100 megabits per second enjoyed by the out-of-touch Prime Minister Turnbull in his Point Piper palace. Even the cheapest NBN plan he can find costs more than he's currently paying for speeds that aren't any faster. Why would Lee even bother?

My office receives so many complaints about NBN services in Sunnybank Hills. Australians are entitled to ask: what is the point of building a second-rate copper NBN that costs more and does less? The Turnbull government's NBN is in crisis.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.