GOLD COAST DEALT A DUD NBN

September 01, 2017

Labor Senator for Queensland, Murray Watt hosted an NBN Forum in Pacific Pines last night with Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland MP and Labor Candidate for Gaven, Meaghan Scanlon.

The NBN crisis forum was a chance to hear community concerns about the large amount of broadband problems in the area.

Senator Watt said the event had been organised after scores of local residents and businesses contacted him, fed up with the Liberal Government’s second-rate NBN.

Among the issues raised, residents were frustrated with -

Buck passing on solving issues between NBN Co and Retail Service Providers
Lack of coverage, with only a quarter of the northern Gold Coast connected to the NBN
Missed appointments by contractors
Unreliable connectivity on the NBN, with some residents working in IT unable to do their jobs effectively.
Snail-pace internet connectivity, with residents in Helensvale giving up entirely and using the WIFI on their phones instead, and
Shoddy NBN installation, that is having to be redone by contractors.

“It is unacceptable that nearly three quarters of the residents and small businesses in the northern Gold Coast are still waiting to be connected to the NBN”, Labor Candidate for Gaven, Meaghan Scanlon said.

“To make matters worse, for many who have finally been connected, they are receiving poor and unreliable internet connection,” Ms Scanlon said.

“Under the LNP, Australia’s internet connectivity ranking fell from 30^th to a dismal 51^st”, Senator Murray Watt said. “According to Akamai, we now have slower internet speeds than Kenya!”

“It’s about time that the wall to wall LNP MP’s on the Gold Coast stop taking their community for granted and start fighting for better internet”, Senator Watt said.

“The NBN frustrations we have heard here on the Gold Coast resonate with people across the country. Malcolm Turnbull’s NBN is simply not fit for purpose,” Michelle Rowland said.

“This is a second-rate network that costs more and does less – and residents and small businesses across Australia are suffering as a result,” Ms Rowland said.

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