Federal Member for Grayndler and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development Anthony Albanese has (again) let fly over the state of the NBN.
Image: Anthony Albanese via Facebook
Calling the National Broadband Network rollout in his area a "dog’s breakfast”, Mr Albanese has launched a petition for his constituents.
"We the undersigned call for Malcolm Turnbull to fix the mess he has created with his second-rate NBN, stop the delays and give the residents of Grayndler the fast and reliable NBN he promised would be available to all households by 2016," states the petition.
Mr. Albanese regards very fast internet as a vital piece of 21st century infrastructure for all Australians and has previously taken Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to task over the NBN; reminding the PM of what Mr. Albanese says were previous commitments.
In the Coalition’s official 2013 policy document, apparently written by Mr Turnbull, it says:
"Our aim is that everyone in the nation should have access to broadband with download data rates of between 25 and 100 megabits per second by 2016, and between 50 and 100 megabits per second by the end of 2019 in 90 per cent of the fixed line footprint."
However, in addition to the mention of "should", is also this caveat:
".. although it should be noted this goal in part depends on NBN Co delivering its current satellite and fixed wireless solutions on time and on budget."
That policy document doesn't appear to be available any more on the Liberal's web site, but Archive.org still has a copy.
Also in 2013, Mr. Turnbull took things a little further, making a more solid commitment:
"Under our policy by 2016 everybody will have access to very fast broadband and nobody will have access to less than 25mbps." Mr. Turnbull was Communications Minister at the time.
In what may be a coincidence, the document from which that quote is from is no longer on Malcolm Turnbull's site, but Archive.org has a copy of that one too.
The Shadow Minister isn't just peeved about delay in connections, but what happens afterwards.
"Australians have waited too long only to receive subpar service when they do connect to the NBN," said Mr. Albanese on Thursday.
As we reported last week, proposed new rules from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will increase protection for those migrating to the National Broadband Network; but it may be too late for some who out of frustration have already chosen to seek NBN alternatives.
