Labors Regional Communications spokesperson Stephen Jones and Labors candidate for Gilmore Fiona Phillips have today announced that an incoming Shorten Labor Government will direct NBN Co. to roll out 21stcentury Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband to homes and businesses on the South Coast.
Fast broadband will create local jobs. Thats why a Shorten Labor Government will roll out FTTP to up to two million homes and businesses across the nation.
The roll-out will include Burrill Lake, Dolphin Point, Kings Point, Milton, Mollymook, Mollymook Beach, Narrawallee, Ulladulla, Batehaven, Batemans Bay, Catalina, Denhams Beach, Long Beach, Maloneys Beach, North Batemans Bay, Sunshine Bay, Surf Beach Surfside, Bream Beach, Erowal Bay, Huskisson, Erowal Bay, Sanctuary Point, St Georges Basin, Vincentia, Worrowing Heights, Moruya, Moruya Heads, Bendalong, Cunjurong Point, Manyana, Tuross Head, Berry, Culburra Beach, Greenwell Point, Orient Point, Borulee, Malua Bay, Mossy Point, Tomakin and Shoalhaven Heads.
In 2013, Malcolm Turnbull promised that the people of Gilmore would get the NBN this year.
But three years later the rollout of Malcolm Turnbulls second-rate NBN has barely started.
Today, Stephen Jones and Fiona Phillips visited a hardware store in Nowra that is benefiting from Labors FTTP broadband.
Stewarts Hardware has the benefit of fast, reliable broadband but other local businesses in Gilmore arent so lucky. The Coalition has created a digital divide, Stephen Jones said.
The cost of Malcolm Turnbulls second-rate NBN has almost doubled, and the time it will take to build has more than doubled. In that time, Australia has dropped from 30th in the world for internet speeds to 60th.
Fiona Phillips said that households and businesses in the region deserved better than Malcolm Turnbulls inferior NBN model.
When I travel around the South Coast so many people tell me that slow and unreliable internet speeds are holding them back.
During peak holiday season internet speeds slow to a crawl as tourists visit the area. They arent the only ones, small businesses that need quality broadband to operate properly have waited and waited.
Ann Sudmalis has over-promised and under-delivered. In a last minute dash she announced yesterday that 140 homes and businesses in Sussex Inlet will be connected to the NBN and that some other communities nearby may be connected once construction starts in August.
But this falls far short of her December 2014 promise that 43,000 premises would be connected to the NBN by the middle of this year.
The choice is clear this election if you want fast, reliable NBN vote Labor. We will get the job done; it is as simple as that.
