Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In fact, there is a report specifically dedicated to that. It is called The digital divide, and I would encourage the member for Mallee to have a read of it. I have spoken on it in this place a number of times, as have my colleagues. The digital divide is a technology divide between city and country, and you should be standing up for your constituents.

The second-rate NBN that this Turnbull government has offered up is letting down the people in regional and rural areas worst of all. Despite the Turnbull government's positive rhetoric and spin—saying: 'Oh, now everything's okay with the NBN. It's all being rolled out, it's all fine.'—honestly, it is like the copper that they are buying. It looks flashy and new when it is first cut, but then after a while it soon loses its gloss, and that is what it has done—not unlike this government, actually!—very rapidly lost its gloss. The on-the-ground experience of technology for rural and regional Australians is that it is simply not up to speed. The second-rate NBN does not just cost more; it delivers less.

Labor understands that fast, accessible, affordable broadband is essential for all Australians, but most particularly, for people who live in remote and rural areas. They should not be discriminated against. The successful delivery of the NBN satellite service has the potential to transform health and education and improve the way small businesses do business. (Time expired)

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