Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think the problem for those opposite that they fail to grasp here is that they've now been in power for four years. Yes, more people are connecting to the NBN. And that is effectively the problem: more people are connecting and realising what a dud this NBN is. And there are many customers out there disappointed with the lacklustre response they get from the NBN. Today, I think what we saw from Senator Fifield was a lacklustre response to our question that was put to him. Every day, you see another disappointed NBN customer, whether it be through the work that the NBN committee has been doing or whether through the series of NBN crisis forums that have been held throughout Australia over recent months. I know that there was one, as Senator Bilyk mentioned, in Tasmania. I hosted one in the northern suburbs of Mackay. The member for Oxley hosted one as well. I know that they've also been happening in South Australia. I commend the work that Michelle Rowland, as the shadow minister, and Stephen Jones, as the shadow minister for regional communications, have been putting in, listening to the concerns of people particularly in regional Queensland.

There is a consistent message coming through from people: they're disappointed with the NBN. It's causing frustrations, it's costing jobs and it's denying Australians opportunities, particularly for those in regional Queensland. For many years, regional Queenslanders and regional Australians looked upon the NBN as a great opportunity. They thought that it would provide economic opportunity. They thought that it would provide educational opportunity. And they thought it would provide health opportunities, particularly for those in regional and remote areas. But the reality is hitting home, and the people of regional areas, in particular, are very disappointed.

As I mentioned, every day there is another media report about how inferior this product is and the frustrations that it is causing. I mentioned the NBN crisis forums that have been held across Australia in recent months. And there was a consistency of views that came through. One was around NBN technicians not turning up for appointments when they were scheduled, or failure to match advertised speed once they had been connected. More than half Australians have had disconnections or dropouts and speed slowdowns in the last six months. The service is notoriously unreliable. And I think those opposite are believing the constant spin from the NBN Co themselves and their ever-growing number of PR officers to believe that this is actually functioning effectively for them. But the problem is: no-one is willing to take ownership of the problem. Even though they've been in government for four years, they're continuing to blame Labor. But the punters are working them out. They're connecting, they're the ones who are frustrated and they're the ones who will hold this government to account.

As I mentioned, I was in my duty electorate of Dawson a couple of weeks ago and we held an NBN crisis forum. It was interesting that the member for Dawson, George Christensen, ordered a couple of NBN staff to go along to hear the complaints firsthand. I think it shows you how concerned they are about the impact this is having on the community. We heard a number of reports from businesspeople in the community about the negative impact that the NBN is having. This was consistent. We heard from Lyn, who had to extend her eight-hour work day to 16 hours so that she could operate at speed outside of normal working hours. We heard from Mark, a small business owner. His business is redoing floorboards. You could imagine that in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie it was a really important business. The phone number he got given six months ago was still not connected. Although he was advertising his services, when you actually rang to repair your floor after the damage of Cyclone Debbie you couldn't actually get through. So this was costing jobs and economic opportunity but also the ability of people to rebuild in those cyclone-affected communities.

We also heard from a family who said that their daughter, to use the internet, had to go to the local Macca's to use the wi-fi to do her homework because it was more reliable than the service offered from the NBN. I heard numerous stories throughout regional Queensland. When I was at Annandale State School I heard about the failure to connect with the School of Distance Education to do coding training. There was a series of problems in regional Queensland that were identified with the NBN that is being delivered by this government. They have had a lame duck as minister—the previous minister responsible, who is the current PM. They've seen the same under Minister Fifield as well. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.