Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let's go for eight. I've got lots to say. An area that's been getting a lot of coverage lately has been the number of complaints about the NBN, and not just the complaints to members' offices. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has reported that complaints have increased by 168 per cent. To put that into perspective, that is four times the level of complaints about the finance and banking industry, about which, through the royal commission, obviously, we're hearing disturbing stories of rorts and rip-offs—four times the number of complaints about the banking and finance sector.

What is more concerning about this bill in particular is that a high proportion of these complaints are coming from regional Australia. In terms of the second bill, residents in regional Australia, who are already experiencing an unsatisfactory service, will be hit with this new levy. This is just unfair. The Prime Minister and his government are responsible for this mess, and now Australians are being forced to suffer. Regional Australians are paying for it through a lack of service, as reflected in the complaints, and now through an $84 a year cost to those families.

A CHOICE survey reported that 60 per cent of people on the NBN had issues in the last six months; 44 per cent of these issues were related to very slow speeds and 31 per cent mentioned problems connecting to the NBN. This is alarming. Yet we don't seem to see the coalition doing anything productive about the issues that they have created. We have consumers, such as Mr Singh, with no internet for nearly a year, while the coalition continues to sing the praises of their copper failure. It is just not good enough from this government.

The Regional Broadband Scheme levy is what we're looking to introduce in this bill this evening. Schedule 4 of the bill proposes the introduction of the NBN levy. It is no surprise that in the week of the federal budget the Turnbull government is seeking to introduce a new tax—a broadband tax this time! I am reminded, at my age, of what we used to call the television licence but, this time, only people in regional areas will pay their telecommunications licence. The levy is designed to extend high-speed broadband to unprofitable areas which, under Labor, would have been funded through a universal wholesale pricing regime. As the member for Greenway, Michelle Rowland, said: 'This levy is expected to add $84 to the annual broadband bill for homes and businesses of non-NBN networks.' Schedule 4 of the bill proposes to apply a new broadband tax, really, of $7.10 per month that would apply to services on non-NBN networks. This charge is due to increase to $7.80 per month by 2021. The fact of the matter is: this levy is a direct consequence of the repeated failures of this government. Extending high-speed broadband to remote and regional Australia was in Labor's initial plan, and this government has failed to deliver it.

Labor understands that extending this infrastructure to unprofitable areas would require a universal wholesale pricing regime. This would mean that the NBN users in the city would help to cross-subsidise higher cost services in the regions. But this bill seeks to supplement the internal cross-subsidy with the new tax—a tax that will hit people living in regional and remote Australia. So I join the member for Greenway in calling on the Prime Minister to explain why the government is so adamant on giving the top end of town an $80 billion handout in the form of tax cuts while introducing an $84 annual fee to regional Australians for their access on non-NBN networks.

This bill reflects this government's lax work on the NBN. It reflects their mismanagement of the processes. It means that this government is passing on the cost to regional consumers rather than fixing the funding issues themselves. This cost is the responsibility of this government. Labor will support the bill but remind the House that this is a sorry tale for which the member for Wentworth, as minister and as Prime Minister, is wholly responsible.

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