MATT KEOGH MP
MEMBER FOR BURT
In 2013 Malcolm Turnbull promised that every Australian household would have the NBN by 2016.That deadline has come and gone and still many homes and businesses in Perth's south-east have been told they'll have to wait till 2020 to be connected to the network.
For those that have received it, the service has been highly unreliable and speeds far below those advertised.
In fact new evidence submitted to the NBN Joint Standing Committee has revealed the multi-technology mix will fail to meet the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Governments own national NBN speed mandate in 5 out of 8 States and Territories.
According to NBNCo, the rollout in Western Australia - alongside Tasmania, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT will fail to meet the national mandate of 90 per cent of premises being able to achieve 50 Mbps speeds in the fixed line footprint.
This comes as reports reveal Australia has slipped to 60th in the world for Speedtest broadband rankings, which disappointingly saw Australia deliver average download speeds six times slower than Singapore.
Furthermore, even these subpar results reflect expected NBN network performance in 2022 not this year, or even 2020.
It is astonishing that despite a $21.4 billion cost blowout, and rollout delay of four years, the Liberals cant even meet their own low-ball speed mandate.
Under Labors original fibre plan, the entire fixed line footprint across WA would be achieve speeds of 1000 Mbps. Under the Liberals, not even 90 per cent of metropolitan Perth will be able to achieve 50 Mbps.
The decision to rely on copper has regrettably not been faster or cheaper it has been slower, more expensive and less reliable.
I submitted a petition to parliament last year to highlight the connectivity disadvantage faced by the residents of Burt but it seems it might be too little too late.
