ONLY LABOR WILL FINISH THE NBN, AND KEEP NBN CO IN PUBLIC HANDS
An end is in sight for the homes and businesses in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury who were stuck with the Liberal’s fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) NBN.
Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, said that the last areas to be upgraded have now been worked through and will finally be on the upgrade schedule.
“I’ve fought against FTTN from day one, and I know how profoundly disappointing it was for much of the upper Blue Mountains and parts of the Hawkesbury to have a copper-based system roll out,” Ms Templeman said.
“As NBN has worked through our policy decision to upgrade FTTN to fibre to the premise (FTTP) there have been some areas where it was a quicker fix, but others had no definitive deadline,” she said.
“That wasn’t good enough for me, so I am very pleased that, thanks to an equity injection of up to $3 billion to expand full-fibre NBN upgrades, those homes who were waiting are no longer in limbo.
“This upgrade means more than 3,500 additional homes and businesses in the Blue Mountains from Lawson to Mount Victoria and nearly 2,500 in the Hawkesbury including Wilberforce, North Richmond, Kurrajong and Kurrajong Heights, Grose Vale and Grose Wold will get access to world class full-fibre upgrades.
“It is in addition to the more than 11,000 premises in the Lawson to Mount Victoria FTTN footprint and the 3,000 premises in the Hawkesbury that are part of the Albanese Government’s current fibre upgrade program to the end of 2025.
“The 29,000 premises in the Fibre to the Curb footprint across the lower Blue Mountains, the Hawkesbury and Emu Plains can already access high speed fibre to the premise.
“All up, about 96% per cent of premises in the Macquarie fixed line footprint will be able to get speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second once all upgrades are complete.
“And the Albanese Government will deliver this upgrade while keeping the NBN in public hands.
“In contrast, Peter Dutton wants to privatise the NBN, reducing service and making high speed internet more expensive for Australians.
“This was the Coalition’s position in government, and Peter Dutton instructed his Party to vote against our legislation to keep the NBN Co in public ownership late last year with Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley calling Labor’s plan to finish the NBN and keep it in public hands a “complete joke”.
“This underscores why the election presents a clear choice between Labor building Australia’s future, or going backwards and paying more under an increasingly reckless Peter Dutton,” Ms Templeman said.
People on copper can check upgrade eligibility at their address and register to get alerts at www.nbnco.com.au
ENDS