Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since being elected to parliament three years ago, I have been actively campaigning to improve communications across the Lake Macquarie and Central Coast region. I am pleased today to provide an update on the state of communications in Shortland and the broader region. There are three key issues that are regularly raised with me by constituents: the farcical rollout of the National Broadband Network and significant issues with television and mobile phone reception.

One of my first acts as the member for Shortland was to conduct a digital survey of the electorate to get a better understanding about the communications issues my constituents are contending with. The feedback from this survey was clear: the people of Shortland are frustrated by both the rollout of the NBN and the service they are getting once they can access it. There are also ongoing problems with digital television and mobile phone reception.

On television reception: I have raised multiple times in this chamber the inadequacy of digital television reception in many parts of my electorate. The shocking fact is that many of my constituents have transferred from analog to digital and this transfer has resulted in poorer TV reception and, in some cases, a complete loss of television services. Being able to access free-to-air television is of fundamental importance in our modern society. Whether it is for accessing news, education or entertainment, free-to-air TV is a necessity, especially in my area, which is dominated by elderly constituents and where internet speeds are quite slow. This is really important not just as a way of helping with isolation but because constituents must have access to television as a fundamental input into our democratic decision-making processes. It is almost criminal that constituents in an electorate only one hour's drive from Australia's largest city cannot get free-to-air television. I will continue to campaign on this issue.

Another major source of concern for my constituents has been the rollout of the NBN in our area. Firstly, Malcolm Turnbull's NBN is a second-rate waste of money. It is beyond disappointing that my constituents have to put up with fibre to the node rather than Labor's far superior fibre to the premises. The rollout of the NBN has also been substandard. Many of my constituents have been left without telephone connections for weeks or sometimes months at a time. Just think about the impact this would have had on my constituents relying on medical alert alarms, on businesses that have not been able to conduct their normal work or on students who have had their studies impacted.

Finally, a common complaint has been that, once connected to the NBN, internet speeds have been slower than ADSL2. Let me repeat that. Some of the residents on NBN are getting slower speeds than ADSL2. This is not good enough. Addressing these communication problems is one of my key priorities, and I will continue to agitate for improvements for the people of Shortland.