MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY


BARILARO’S PLAN TO OVERBUILD NBN REVEALS GROWING FEDERAL-STATE DYSFUNCTION IN NSW
 

John Barilaro has today confirmed to the AFR he wants to use a $400 million fund he administers to help the NSW Government build and operate a regional network that directly competes against the NBN.

In a swipe at the Government, Mr Barilaro justified this move by saying “Gig State is about achieving outcomes for people in the bush who have had to put up with patchy internet for years”.

In response Paul Fletcher, who is vying for a PhD in saying one thing and doing another, told the AFR he wasn’t concerned about competition, despite the fact he just legislated a $7 per month tax on non-NBN networks to deter them from competing against the NBN.

You cannot make this stuff up.

If the NSW Government wants to address the inferior broadband imposed by their federal counterparts in regional areas, they should co-invest in a framework to upgrade the NBN, not unnecessarily overbuild it.

Whether it's broadband or energy, it is always the consumer and the taxpayer who pays for the political dysfunction of the Coalition.

Background

As noted in a CommsDay report on 8 May:

“the seven towns and three localities slated for new access networks have a combined population of around 130,000 residents or around 50,000 premises”

And

“…the pilot would overbuild the existing NBN Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) footprint in Dubbo or a NSW government funded NBN area switch FTTP upgrade to a major Wagga commercial district that is still under construction. Nearly all the remainder of the proposed footprint are on Fibre to the Node (FTTN) connections”

TUESDAY, 26 MAY 2020