Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, this is the latest report from Akamai, which ranks internet speeds of different countries around the world. It is a damning indictment on this government and this Prime Minister because, in the last three years, Australia has gone from 30th in the world to 60th in the world for internet speeds—behind most of Asia, Europe, America, Canada and even New Zealand. We are even behind Russia, Poland and Slovakia.

That is this Prime Minister's legacy as communications minister: from 30th in the world, for internet speeds, down to 60th. He was a failure as communications minister, not just according to this report but according to his own standards, the standards he set for himself just over three years ago when he released The coalition’s plan for fast broadband and an affordable NBN. His policy was to be put to the people of Australia at the last election. Most of the promises that were made in this policy have been broken, including the two big ones. One was a promise that he could build the NBN for $29½ billion, and the other was that everyone in Australia would have access to the NBN by the end of this year. Both of those have now been broken, not by a little bit by a lot. The cost of the NBN is not $29½ billion anymore. It has now blown out to up to $56 billion.

In question time today, the Prime Minister gave us a lecture about $20 billion and how much that was. He said in answer to the first question, 'We regard $20 billion as a huge amount of money. It could provide a full year of hospital funding, more than a full year of schools funding and the duplication of the Hume Highway.' The blow-out of the NBN is more than that, more than $20 billion. It has blown out by $26½ billion on his watch. Remember the other promise? It is a promise that everyone across Australia would get the NBN this year. Tasmania would have gotten it last year, apparently. They are still waiting. The promise was that the whole country would get it this year.

Well, guess what: we are still waiting. If you are still buffering, blame Malcolm Turnbull. More than 80 per cent of the country is still waiting for Malcolm Turnbull's second-rate NBN. It is an epic fail. Where this really rubs people the wrong way is in electorates like Perth and Cowan in WA, Banks in New South Wales, Deakin in Victoria or Bonner in Queensland. In these electorates—

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