Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand here as a health worker and a proud union member, but today I will be speaking about the NBN. The Central Coast is at the front line of the National Broadband Network rollout and the results are in. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman annual report reveals that the most complaints across Australia are in my region. The Central Coast was a priority area under Labor. Fibre to the home was successfully rolled out across suburbs like Berkeley Vale, Killarney Vale, Bateau Bay, Long Jetty and Shelly Beach. Industry experts recognise that Labor's fibre to the home is the technology of choice, and it is the technology of choice for my community. However, the rollout on the Central Coast now includes the Abbott-Turnbull government's fibre-to-the-node technology. In our region there is now fibre to the premises, fibre to the node, fibre to the basement, fixed wireless and satellite technology. There are too many problems to ignore caused by this mixed bag of technologies. The TIO results are alarming, as are the hundreds of complaints I have received from residents who are fed up with the problems they face trying to connect to or use an NBN service.

I support the NBN and the opportunities this critical infrastructure presents for people, families and businesses on the Central Coast. It is essential infrastructure and the potential impact for our region is significant. In a region where one in four people travel between two and four hours to work each day, the NBN will make a difference. The failure of the rollout is a daily reminder to commuters and a harsh reality preventing thousands of Central Coast residents from being able to work closer to home and spend more time with their friends and families. In a community where youth unemployment is stubbornly high and sits well above the national average at 17 per cent, a properly functioning NBN could change lives.

If, as a region, we are to have any chance of realising the economic potential that reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband can provide, we must make the NBN work. Our early rollout status on the Central Coast should put us at an advantage, but instead we are leading the league table of complaints and misadventure. As the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman 2016 annual report shows, four of the top 10 postcodes for complaints about the NBN from across the country are on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The data backs up complaints I have heard about slow speeds, unusable internet and landlines, new connection delays and dropouts.

Of course, not every person with poor service takes it up with the ombudsman. My office has been inundated with complaints about the NBN, but that is only a fraction of those are affected in my community. There is simply nowhere for some customers to go with complaints about delays or provider behaviour. This government cannot continue to ignore these problems, blame-shift or avoid responsibility. The government and the NBN must acknowledge the problems on the Central Coast, accept responsibility and work to fix them. More importantly, they must learn from our experience.

The minister came to the Gorokan Telstra exchange a little over 12 months ago spruiking 'the wave of superfast broadband connections' imminent as homes in suburbs such as Hamlyn Terrace, Warnervale, Woongarrah, Charmhaven, Toukley, Noraville and Gorokan had work on their fibre-to-the-node connections completed. But if the minister came back now he would see a reality far removed from his words. He would see residents of Wyreema Road in Warnervale who are still waiting to be connected to the NBN despite the switch-on over 12 months ago. To make matters worse, there is no alternative available, such as ADSL, leaving residents without any access to the internet. He would meet Elizabeth, whose teenage son Ryan just finished the HSC. Ryan spent most of his time studying at the library so he could download coursework because at home he struggled to make do with a wireless mobile connection that is slow and expensive.

The minister would meet residents of Matcham and Holgate, who were promised a ready-for-service date of August but are now unlikely to be able to connect to the NBN until next year. He could speak with Michael, who like many people in the Matcham and Holgate area is currently connected to a satellite service that is to be switched off in February. Michael tells me he is worried about not having an internet service over summer—bushfire season—in an area where flooding has in the past cut access roads and isolated his home. In areas like this, where mobile phone coverage is virtually nonexistent, the internet plays a vital role in monitoring emergency situations. Public safety could be at risk.

Should the minister come to Dobell I would take him to meet Belinda, whose small business in Tumbi Umbi was without a landline and EFTPOS facility for almost four weeks after she attempted to switch to the NBN. This was part of a chain of events that saw her place 10 separate orders and endure six technician appointments when nobody arrived, and where 17 case managers and three complaints managers were assigned to her by the NBN and her service provider. For a business which relies on phone sales, this outage is not just frustrating, it has a significant financial impact.

Should the minister come to Dobell I would take him to Gorokan, where he made the announcement at the Telstra exchange, to meet Dawn, who discovered six months after installing an expensive home security alarm that it was not NBN compatible, despite the suburb being live for months before she bought it. I am to meet residents of Berkeley Vale retirement village, who switched to the NBN to keep their landlines, accepting the offer to have a new modem installed by a technician, only to discover when the bill arrived that the service had cost them $240. And just this afternoon I received a complaint from Mark, who operates a business in Lake Haven. Since August, Mark has logged 10 fault calls and had eight technicians visit in eight weeks. Mark was required to be available between 8 am and 7 pm for a technician appointment. However, the technicians failed to attend their appointment. This not only causes financial distress but also puts his clients at risk when the service crashes and emergency phones do not work.

There are many more complaints. It is not good enough to continue to shift the blame, to say these issues are not the government's or NBN's fault. Obviously, the organisation is tasked with a wholesale supply of NBN services and network maintenance, but this is public infrastructure, and the government must act. For older people, for people with chronic medical conditions, for people who are socially isolated, losing their telephone line is distressing and causes anxiety. For businesses it affects the bottom line. We must work to stop people and businesses losing telephone lines while they switch to the NBN. For those seeking to rectify an intermittent or inadequate NBN service with a provider, I am told consistently of long hold times, excessive troubleshooting, ill trained call centre staff, conflicting information and missed technician appointments. I hear of technicians who attend a home only to advise they cannot fix the problem because of the complex contracting arrangements between Telstra and NBN. We must work to see these arrangements function in a simple and effective way. There is more to be done to inform customers that some medical and back-to-base security alarm systems may not be compatible with the NBN. Many homes are fast approaching the date of decommission for copper based phone lines. I fear the consequences if we get this wrong.

For customers new to NBN there must be clarity on fees and charges for service provision. For pensioners and those on a fixed income, any unexpected out-of-pocket expense has a big impact. They need to know up-front what a service call means, what options are available and what it will cost. For those waiting to be connected, at the very least communication about the rollout must be improved—knowing what technology they will get, when they are likely to get it and what will happen in between. Many people tell me they are disappointed and let down by a government that has failed to deliver on a promise to deliver a faster rollout and a higher quality service. The experience of the people of the Central Coast must be heard. They deserve to know their federal representatives are listening and acting. To those have contacted me and shared their stories with me: I am listening. Labor is listening. There is much to be learned from the Central Coast experience of the NBN rollout. Whilst fibre to the node is not our policy, and in many cases is the underlying cause of the problems, I will stand up for our community. I will stand up for the Central Coast. I will stand up for those students, for those retired people and for those businesses.

The Central Coast deserves access to quality, reliable and affordable broadband. It is reasonable to expect the government will make the same commitment to my community. We must rectify these problems, and work together to address the systematic failures of the NBN and make sure other regions are not affected in the way we have been. We must make this work.