Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The PM pledged before the last election that he would speed up delivery of the NBN, but he has in fact delayed the rollout as he has struggled to get his second-rate copper wire plan out of the box. He also promised that those with the worst internet would be his top priority, but that is not happening. Many suburbs in the Perth electorate are in the two lowest bands for broadband speeds. Other than new developments, not one house and not one business will be connected to the NBN in this term of government. Some of the worst affected suburbs include Bedford and Embleton, and they have no chance before 2019. The residents are angry.

Brett Blanchard from Bedford contacted me yesterday. He had this to say:

I wanted to communicate to you how bad it is in my suburb.

We get download rates of between 0.5 to 1 meg ... appalling speeds that are all but un-usable.

Why was Bedford left off the list? How can a suburb so close to the city experience such poor connectivity?

I have never written to a Member of Parliament before, but I feel this is required as I have no other option with the latest NBN rollout plan being a proverbial kick in the face.

Prime Minister, you overpromised and underdelivered. You need to take action to put some fairness and credibility back into the scheme.