A Shorten Labor Government would roll out optic fibre to up to 28,000 local homes and businesses in the Blue Mountains, Labor announced today [June 23].
Labor’s communications spokesman Jason Clare made the announcement at a campaign stop in Springwood with Labor’s Macquarie candidate, Susan Templeman.
He said Labor will direct NBN Co to roll out fibre-to-the-premises to Blaxland, Faulconbridge, Glenbrook, Lapstone, Linden, Mount Riverview, Springwood, Valley Heights, Warrimoo, Winmalee, Yellow Rock, Hawkesbury Heights, Woodford and Hazelbrook.
No timetable was given for the rollout.
“The cost of Malcolm Turnbull’s second-rate NBN has almost doubled, and the time it will take to build has more than doubled,” said Mr Clare.
“In that time, Australia has dropped from 30th in the world for internet speeds to 60th.”
Labor candidate for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, said delivery of the local NBN rollout was long overdue.
“The copper network Malcolm Turnbull wants to rely upon is 19th century technology. We all know the problems with copper based networks like ADSL. They have got limited capacity, speeds are reduced when more people come on the network, and when it rains and the pits fill up with water, people get hit with chronic drop-outs.
“As a small business owner working in the media industry, I know how important it is that we have fast and reliable internet so Mountains businesses can compete on the national and international stage,” Ms Templeman said.
“Sadly, Malcolm Turnbull’s inferior and inadequate copper network has already begun to be rolled out in the Upper Mountains, but it’s not too late for the Lower and Mid Mountains. We can still make sure they get the real NBN, the Labor vision for the NBN,” she said.
Mr Clare made the announcement outside Dextralog Computers in Springwood.
Dextralog director Michael Hamilton welcomed the news as a major improvement over the government’s current fibre to the node NBN.
“Having fibre to the node is like having a superhighway with goat tracks at the end of it. It’s not a solution. It needs to go all the way to houses, otherwise you may as well not do it,” he said.
Faulconbridge resident Jennie Richardson, who runs a home-based film business with her husband Scott, also welcomed the announcement.
“We’re considering relocating if things don’t change [with internet speeds]. It’s really, really important to us,” she said.
