Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Phillips is an 84-year-old constituent who has contacted my office on numerous occasions during his efforts to have a landline connected to his property. This might sound like overkill—a member of parliament being asking to help have a landline connected—but, through no fault of his own, Mr Phillips needs all of the help he can get. He is an 84-year-old. He moved to a new, smaller home on 4 September this year. He did everything required to ensure his services were connected to his new home. On 2 August he filled in the paperwork with Telstra for the landline at his old house to be disconnected and for a landline to be connected to his new home on 4 September. On 12 September, six weeks after he had filled in the required paperwork, Mr Phillips advised me that he had visited his local Telstra store four times to ask for the landline to be connected to his new home, in Calista. Telstra advised that a technician would attend Mr Phillips's new home on 18 September to install a landline. This was pushed out to 21 September. On 28 September, Mr Phillips attended my office again, distressed as Telstra still had not connected a landline. A technician had attended his home the day before but did not put the phone in the socket, and Mr Phillips was afraid to do this himself.

Telstra has advised us that the landline appeared to be working and a phone number had been issued and all that was needed was for Mr Phillips to insert the phone in the socket. My staff member had to go Mr Phillips's home with her own telephone to try Mr Phillips's phone and the second phone in the socket. Neither one connected and no dial tone was available. Telstra again told us that either NBN had taken over the area or the developer had not provided the wiring needed and the matter would be escalated. We were advised that on 10 October a technician would attend Mr Phillips's home on 13 October to install the landline. On 17 October, Mr Phillips once again visited my office, because he is still waiting for a technician to install a landline. Telstra has advised that the problem with installing a telephone for my 84-year-old constituent is that the area in Calista in which he lives has been handed off to NBN Co, and, whenever a provider processes an order for a new connection for a landline in this area, NBN immediately cancels the order.

To add insult to injury NBN is not scheduled to roll out in Calista until 2020. So we have Telstra trying to organise a service for Mr Phillips, with NBN knocking them back each time. Failure to install a landline in three months means he has to wait a further two to three years for a landline phone. This is 2017. Is this what the Prime Minister calls having the NBN rollout in hand. This government is a train wreck. It wrecks everything it touches, and the NBN is its champion disaster. I have listened to government members in this place, Liberals and Nationals, and they are unbelievable. They yell out across the chamber, 'I've got the NBN. My NBN is fine!' Jolly good, job done! Put your feet up and take a load off! Have a break! For God's sake, fix the NBN, fix this mess and do your job.