Labors Spokesperson for Regional Communications, Stephen Jones has slammed Senator Fiona Nashs assertion that regional Australians dont need access to the same internet speeds as our major cities.

The Productivity Commission has today identified access to the NBN as critical for regional and remote communities:

The National Broadband Network, for example, is Australias largest infrastructure project. The uniform pricing strategy adopted for broadband services across regions is aimed at significantly narrowing the digital divide between rural, regional and urban Australia. Broadband is a fundamental enabler of distant trade in goods and services, allowing non-urban communities to find new markets in Australia and overseas.

Transitioning Regional Economies p.26

For the Federal Minister for Regional Communications to sell regional Australia short like this is astounding.

Regional Australians should not be treated like second class citizens in Australias digital economy but under the Turnbull Government, thats exactly what is happening.

The Coalitions second rate copper NBN is a disaster for regional Australia

It is a far cry from the fibre optic NBN that Labor had planned for.

Labors fibre optic NBN would have delivered an equivalent service to all regional towns with more than 1,000 premises and the cities to 93% of Australia.

Labor committed over $12 billion in investment to bring better broadband to regional Australia through the NBN, yet so much of this has been wasted by the Turnbull Government.

This sentiment is shared by the experts.

At this weeks Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband, Professor Rod Tucker elaborated on his description of the copper NBN as a national tragedy, and said by the time the NBN roll out is complete; the technology will already be obsolete.

Further, Associate Professor Mark Gregory told the Committee that the governments decision to roll out copper FTTN technology could have wiped about 50 percent of the value of the NBN, and that it was vital for regional Australia to have FTTP technology.

Regional communities deserve communications that are fit for the future, rather than entrenching a network that excludes country Australians from the digital economy.

Senator Nash should be demanding the same access for the bush. Its her job.