House debates

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Statements by Members

Canberra Electorate: Broadband

1:39 pm

Photo of Gai BrodtmannGai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | | Hansard source

I want to thank once again all Canberrans who have taken part in my Send Me Your Speeds campaign. The campaign has been underway for over 18 months, and I've received hundreds of speeds from people right across the ACT. The speeds I'm about to read out will remind everyone who is listening that this is what people in Canberra live with every day. This is what Canberra students live with each and every day. This is what Canberra families live with each and every day. This is what Canberra businesses live with every day.

Andrew from Scullin—not in my electorate but over the lake—had some of the worst speeds I've seen: a download speed of 0.39 megabits per second and an upload speed of 0.10. Penelope in Tharwa gets 0.77 megabits per second as upload and download, so it's no wonder her speed test image can't even be done. Tomislav from Chisholm is an IT professional who is trying to run a small business from home with a download speed of 1.79 megabits per second and an upload speed of 0.7 megabits per second. How can anyone run a business with these upload speeds? Kris from Gordon runs a small business. He has a download speed of 5.2 megabits per second and an upload of 0.84.

I want to quote from Karen, who tried to book an airline ticket, couldn't because of her appalling speeds and lost out as a result of that: 'This is disgraceful in the nation's capital in 2017.' (Time expired)