12 December 2013

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has led the charge in Question Time today on the Government’s plan to fix the National Broadband Network (NBN) and deliver faster, cheaper internet speeds for regional Australia.

“This is one of the most singularly impacting issues in my electorate. I asked the Minister for Communications to outline today how the Government will turn around the decline in Australia’s broadband standards, a decline brought about by Labor’s wasteful and pathetically slow rollout of the NBN,” Mr Taylor said.

“The Strategic Review into the NBN has found Labor’s all fibre NBN would have cost taxpayers $73 billion - $29 billion more than we’d been told. And it was going to take until 2024 to complete.

“Our NBN will save taxpayers $32 billion and get the NBN finished four years sooner.

“It’s because of the wasteful, pathetically slow rollout under Labor – that only reached three per cent of premises after four years – it’s unlikely our Government will be able to deliver 25 megabits per second download speeds by 2016.

“We will however be re prioritising who gets the rollout first. Underserved areas, including rural and regional communities, receive top priority.

“I am inundated with complaints from Hume residents fed up with slow internet, no mobile phone reception and dodgy connections.

“Constituents at Wayo complain they have to wait until the small hours of the morning to update phone and computer applications because of congestion on the satellite.

“At Tirrannaville near Goulburn they’re disgusted at the waste of rolling out broadband to areas already served by ADSL, ADSL2+, 4G or at worst 3G, when they are waiting half an hour to download a single photo.

“At Murrumbateman families with HSC students trying to complete assignments say their internet speeds plummet at peak times after school, after dinner and on weekends. Business owners have to leave their home based businesses, some having to travel up to 45 minutes, to get reasonable download speeds.

“Under our plan, by 2019, nine out of ten Australians will have access to download rates of at least 50 megabits per second and seven out of ten will have access to 100 megabits per second.

“There will also be lower Internet bills. An average broadband plan will cost $72 per month, compared to $139 under Labor.

“We are committed to completing the NBN quickly and cost-effectively. We will do it with honesty and transparency and I will be fighting hard for Hume internet black spots to be at the top of the priority list.”