Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Communications (Senator Fifield) to a question without notice asked by Senator O'Neill today.

It's a long time now since we heard the answer to the question, because we had some very important questions that were raised by you, Senator Lines, and by those who participated in the recent debate. In that ensuing period of time, the minister's absolutely forgettable answer is another example of how detached this government is from the real and pressing problem that is confronting Australians, who are getting sold an absolute dud of an NBN.

The first part of my question was about complaints that were put on record by TPG who said: 'With fibre to the node'—which sadly has been now inflicted on 4.5 million Australians and delivered the inferior technology decided for them by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull—'we're not allowed to lodge a fault with the NBN, unless the line performs at less than 12 megabits per second'. In response to that concern, which is of such significance to Australians right across this country, we got the equivalent of buffering from Minister Fifield—the wait for a proper answer while it just goes around and around in a circle. We keep hearing the same thing over and over again. That's the experience that people are having across the country. It's not just that circle of watching the buffering going on; it's the dance where you get sent from NBN to the retail service provider. Now let's add the fact that it could be your modem, so you get sent to the shop to spend a few hundred dollars on a modem that you don't need, because the problem isn't your modem. The problem is that your government is inflicting this disaster on you, and your experience as a business is absolutely devastatingly bad.

We've heard evidence in the last several weeks, in the north of Tasmania and also on the Central Coast, where I come from, which reveals how taxing this experience is. The minister's says in his most reasonable voice: 'Look, if you're having a problem, just talk to your retail service provider. They'll fix it up. Or, if that isn't good, talk to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. In all sincerity, I'm sure you'll have your problem fixed.' The problem isn't getting fixed. The minister is not on the job. He doesn't give a damn. He doesn't care about the fact that we're getting evidence like this from Belinda Mabbott, who runs a fantastic small landscape supply business on the Central Coast, who says: 'Over 12 months nearly to the day, we managed to rack up 17 case managers; at least eight technicians' appointments—only two came into our yard—a full folder of emails with thickness of two centimetres; countless phone calls and messages to my mobile; paperwork; submissions to the ombudsman; and finally a call to our local member, Emma McBride, who subsequently got us the assistance that we needed.'

That's what's happening across this country. The Liberal members are like the minister; denying the problem, ignoring the reality, cruelling people's businesses and cruelling people's access to essential services. There's a wonderful gentleman by the name of Mr Barry Egan, who gave me an absolute wad of paperwork in which he had documented his experience. He's really concerned that older people, who haven't got as much energy and capacity as he has, are actually suffering in silence. They are being rejected by the TIO, rejected by their retail service provider. They are spending money on modems that don't work and, all the while, this minister ignores the reality.

We heard evidence in Tasmania—and Senator Urquhart is whipping here for us on the opposition benches. She was absolutely on a unity ticket with the CEO of the copper mine in north-west Tasmania. A copper mine—remember, we're getting our telecoms down the copper, the technology from last century. The CEO, Mr Peter Walker, said and agreed with Senator Urquhart, that copper won't cut it. Everyone knows it. Even the man who is an advocate for the copper mine knows it. He knows he has to have fibre to do the job that he needs to do to get the efficiencies in and create jobs for people in north-west Tasmania.

We heard from Virginia Bower, a podiatrist from the St Johns Foot Clinic. This is how she described her experience of trying to get the NBN on, and the cuts to services that she's experienced in her business: 'Effectively, we were electronically handcuffed.' I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard: 'Oh my God. I just wish I had my ADSL back.'

The NBN has been a wasteful rollout of $49 billion by people who should have known better. Instead of listening to the experts, they delivered and inflicted Malcolm Turnbull's mess on us. Thank you.