Turnbull slammed on NBN

With a federal election looming, the NBN is set to be a contentious issue that Southbank voters will want answers to.

The rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) has been a long, slow process, with many residents and businesses still not connected.  

The NBN has been a hotly-debated topic, with the Liberal Party promising during the 2013 election campaign that every home and business would have high-speed access by the end of 2016.

This has not been achieved and, despite its importance for tourism, arts and retail, most of Southbank is yet to be connected. Unfortunately many residents and businesses will be waiting for some time yet, with half of Melbourne Ports only being scheduled for connection in 2018.

Out of the thousands of addresses in Southbank alone, only around 25 locations have access to the NBN.

Some experts are calling for the Liberal Government to abandon the current strategy out of fears that “the use of copper will cause the project to be outdated before it’s completed”.

Internet Society of Australia CEO Laurie Patton said: “Australia’s internet speeds warranted a national outcry” after Akamai Technologies released its quarterly State of the Internet report comparing global internet speeds.

Australia slipped to 60th in global rankings based on average peak speed. The current ranking is a dramatic slip from our previous 30th placed rank in the category just a few years ago.

Australia is now languishing behind places like Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Poland in Amakai’s internet speed rankings.

Federal member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby described Malcolm Turnbull’s handling of the NBN rollout as “an absolute mess”.

“Turnbull promised that his party’s second-rate copper NBN would cost just $29.5 billion to roll out, but it has now blown out to almost $56 billion,” Mr Danby said.

“If Malcolm Turnbull oversaw a near 100 per cent budget blowout in the private sector he would, Donald Trump style, insist the person responsible get the sack.”

One of the pledges the Labor Party has made for the next election is a world-class fibre-optic network.

“Southbank residents deserve much better than Turnbull’s NBN mess,” Mr Danby said.