With Senator Katy Gallagher, Shadow Minister for Small Business and Financial Services, and Ross Hart MP, Member for Bass. 

Labor Senators will take NBN Co and the Turnbull Government to task in Senate Estimates this week over unexplained and unfair service outages on the second-rate NBN Network across Australia, following reports that outages are putting local small businesses at a competitive disadvantage. 

“It’s unacceptable that hard working small business owners across Tasmania are facing unnecessary barriers to doing business and particularly with little or no explanation from the NBN Co or the Turnbull Government,” Shadow Minister for Small Business, Katy Gallagher, said.

“I consistently hear from small business owners that their NBN connection is unreliable and sub-par and this latest story is further evidence that Malcolm Turnbull’s second-rate NBN is just another barrier to small businesses succeeding.

“Labor accepts that from time to time there will be issues with the network, however, unexplained outages for days on end can be crippling for a business’ viability and we will be seeking answers on this issue on behalf of businesses and residents.

“We have heard right across the country of the frustration being experienced by businesses and residents on Malcolm Turnbull’s second-rate NBN,” Shadow Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland said.  

“On my recent Shadow Ministerial visit to Tasmania I heard first-hand about the difficulties small businesses and residents are facing with the current NBN. Small businesses like Green Acres Hydroponics in Mornington, which I visited, are frustrated by poor service and outages under this Government’s second-rate NBN.”

“The contrast couldn’t be clearer, under Labor’s NBN Launceston business Launtel is announcing Australia’s first Gigabit NBN Connections, while the Liberal’s second rate NBN leaves Tasmanians with no connection at all,” Ross Hart said.

We look forward to an explanation from NBN Co and the Minister as to why their second-rate NBN network is hampering the ability of small businesses to succeed in Tasmania.