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

I rise to speak about communications issues faced by my communities in McEwen. Access to the NBN was meant to be a priority for regional and rural areas. This has not been the experience in McEwen. In fact, the way that the NBN rollout is happening, or, should I say, not happening, means that my constituents are marginalised by the coalition government. There are areas in McEwen that still have not been included in the NBN rollout plans out to 2020. This is despite the Liberal government's election promise that the NBN would be rolled out in three years. After two years, we are no further ahead than what we were and the responsible minister has resigned. And it is no wonder he resigned. This is the minister who doubled the cost for a slower, second rate NBN.

With this coalition government, it does not matter who leads it, because regional and rural areas are intentionally being left behind. In today's economy, businesses cannot grow without access to internet technologies. And if they cannot grow, they leave. A successful business in Gisborne in my electorate has recently left the area. This is because business needs effective broadband to operate and to be competitive. There is no NBN on the horizon for Gisborne and the existing broadband quality is so poor that they have no other option but to leave the area—no option.

The small businesses in my electorate of McEwen contribute around $823 million to the Australian economy. With improved access to internet technologies, an additional $99 million could be unlocked over the next few years. The industries in my electorate that would benefit from improved access to internet technologies are education and training, health, real estate, finance and insurance services, agriculture, manufacturing, retail trade, transport, postal and warehousing, and arts and recreation services. We need our local businesses to thrive and we need to provide the infrastructure to do so. And when the infrastructure is provided, it needs to be looked after. It needs to be upgraded to account for population changes and increasing demand over time.

McEwen's reputation for being a great place for families has spread and when you see what the electorate has to offer, why wouldn't it. The ABS shows that McEwen has the highest ranking of dwellings being purchased and we are listed in the top 10 electorates with young people aged up to 15. We need to make sure that we give these young people the best educational opportunities we can through access to quality broadband both at school and at home. This means that growth areas like McEwen should be able to rely on existing communications infrastructure being regularly upgraded to cope with the increased demand for use and coverage. But with responsibility for infrastructure and its upgrade being left to commercial decisions by carriers with no concern for the community, it is no wonder that residents from my electorate have made innumerable complaints to the TIO.

Craigieburn in Hume Council and Doreen-Mernda in the City of Whittlesea fall within my electorate and both are listed in the top 10 complaints to the Telecommunications Ombudsman. In the last four years, Doreen has had the second-highest number of recorded complaints per postcode to the Telecommunications Ombudsman in Victoria about these issues and is the fourth-highest in Australia. With the support of the coalition government, the telecommunications carriers ride roughshod over the regional and remote communities. With no community consultation, the carriers put up base stations in places like Kilmore and turned them on with no concern that they blasted out the fortuitous television coverage that residents in this community need. Where is the balance, the consultation, the engagement with the community?

As much as McEwen needs its existing communications infrastructure to be upgraded, it also needs to address the mobile black spots. Yesterday, I listened to the member for Durack congratulate the government on the 200-plus base stations that are being rolled out in her electorate under round 1 of the coalition's Mobile Black Spot Program. Out of the 70-odd locations that my office submitted, do you know how many base stations are being funded under this program in McEwen, the place where the Ash Wednesday and more recent Black Saturday bush fires happened? Two, a paltry two. We will receive two base stations under the program in Reedy Creek and St Andrew's. Our communities across McEwen met all criteria for the funding: rural communities and major transport corridors that are prone to natural disasters. We still have 70-odd mobile black spots in McEwen with the most affected areas being in places like Beveridge, Bulla, Darraweit Guim, Gisborne South, Lancefield, Pyalong, Reedy Creek, Romsey, Seymour, Sunbury, Trawool and Wollert to name a few.

Mobile black spots are a serious issue in our communities and they require a serious response from government, not a build-up of expectations for our residents that will see the majority of communities miss out. But this is what Australians in my electorate of McEwen can expect from the coalition government—no matter who leads it. Australians know that Malcolm Turnbull signed his name to the same cuts and broken promises of the last two years. He supports the same unfairness; the same attack on jobs, on families, on schools, on hospitals and on regional communities. He sold his values to get Tony Abbott's job. This is the Minister who resigned from his portfolio before his lacklustre performance could be judged by the Australian public.