With Stephen Jones MP, Shadow Minister for Regional Communications.

It was not too long ago that the Turnbull Government declared 2017 would be the ‘year of the customer’.

Unfortunately, figures released today by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) indicate it would be better described as the year of the customer complaint.

Over the 2017 calendar year NBN complaints to the TIO surged by 204 per cent, despite the number of new NBN activations only increasing by 105 per cent over that same period.

This concerning increase in complaints is a damming indictment of a Turnbull Government that has spent three years plodding around like a disinterested spectator.

“Labor hopes to see a significant reduction in complaints over the next reporting period. It’s clear that current trends are unsustainable, and consumers are fed up with the blame game”, Ms Rowland said.

We also call on NBN to accelerate its efforts to address the root cause of problems impacting on the migration experience of consumers.

“Regulators and the TIO need to ensure parties in the supply chain are accountable for their performance. The time for delaying action is over”, Mr Jones said.

In the absence of clear lines of accountability consumers will continue to come off  second-best when a problem arises.

Labor will continue to advocate for sensible measures to improve the lived experience of consumers over the NBN.

Our digital economy, and the relative success of the NBN, depend on Australians having confidence in the network and the services they receive over it.