Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before the election Australians were promised that:

Under the Coalition's NBN all premises will have access to download speeds of 25 megabits per second to 100 megabits per second by the end of 2016.

The Prime Minister repeated this promise on election night. He said:

I want our NBN rolled out within three years and Malcolm Turnbull is the right person to make this happen.

In my electorate of McEwen the government has failed spectacularly to deliver on this promise. The government now does not expect to finish this second-rate patchwork network until 2020. That is more than twice as long as they promised before the election. Before the election, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull also promised that the total cost of their second-rate network would be $29.5 billion, but they have failed to deliver on this as well. According to the latest forecast, the total cost of the NBN will be about $42 billion. That $42 billion does not count the cost of upgrading the network down the track. And now they want to tax you for a connection. What you get for this price is a network that uses copper. Around Seymour in my electorate this copper is labelled KGV—not Telstra, not Telecom; it is King George V. This gives you an idea how old this stuff is—and the government expects to run high-speed broadband through it. It is a technology that NBN director Simon Hackett recently said 'sucks'.

Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull promised before the election that:

Suburbs, regions, towns and business districts with the poorest services and greatest need for upgrades will receive first priority.

That is simply not happening in my electorate of McEwen. I receive daily complaints of no broadband access or poor access in the suburbs of Doreen and Mernda. But are these people being prioritised? No. They are not even mentioned in the government's latest 18-month rollout plan. Our communities are being completely ignored.

The same goes for Gisborne. Gisborne is not even mentioned in the rollout plan. We have even had businesses move out of Gisborne because they are unable to get access to the internet. The minister's office does not even know what areas are getting the NBN. We received a letter dated 4 March 2015 stating that the minister is 'pleased to advise that Sunbury is included in the new NBN Co rollout plan' and that it 'will take place within the next 18 months'. Good news, you say. We received a letter two weeks later, dated 19 March, that said, 'A search of NBN Co's website indicates that Sunbury is not currently included in the national rollout plan.' Incompetent, out of touch and generally misleading, describes this government. I wrote to the minister on behalf of Mark and Kylee Leeson, of New Gisborne South, in January this year. We still have not had a response.

We could also talk about the government's ridiculously under-funded and slow-moving Mobile Black Spot Program. McEwen communities meet all criteria for the funding: we encompass several rural communities, we live near busy transport routes and we are constantly under threat from natural disasters. In the Bend of Islands almost half the community have issues with their telecommunications, including little or no mobile-phone coverage. I included this area in my submission to the government as part of their Mobile Black Spot Program. There is still no response. We have even seen Tony Abbott's own MPs criticise the government's program, with the member for Mallee saying, 'We have been in government for 17 months now and we are still fluffing around over it. Frankly, it is too slow to roll out. It is time we got it done.'

Let us look at Australia Post. In our community of Craigieburn, a decision has been made to relocate the current post office at Craigieburn plaza to Craigieburn Central shopping centre. With post offices located at Highlands Shopping Centre and the new service at Craigieburn Central, they will be only three kilometres apart. A cursory glance of Craigieburn will show that almost 90 per cent of the suburb will be without a post office within close proximity. There is also concern that the plaza post office closure will contribute to the already difficult retail environment for traders at that shopping centre.

This House has recently received a petition from some 2,000 Craigieburn residents who are rightfully angry about the decision to close the plaza post office. The Minister for Communications needs to end the self-ego fondling. He needs to do his job and start listening to the very real needs and concerns of our communities across McEwen, instead of focusing his energy on trying to become the Prime Minister.