DICKSON RESIDENTS STUCK IN NBN NO MAN’S LAND

 Jason Clare, Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare, addresses the attendees;

Jason Clare, Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare, addresses the attendees;

Residents gathered at Albany Creek State High School to hear about the NBN plans for their area.

Residents gathered at Albany Creek State High School to hear about the NBN plans for their area.

On Tuesday night – November 17 – over 100 local residents gathered at Albany Creek State High School to hear from Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare, Senator Chris Ketter and Labor Candidate for Dickson Michael Gilliver about the second-class state of Malcolm Turnbull’s National Broadband Network plan for Dickson.

Under the previous Labor Government more than 40,000 homes and businesses in Dickson were scheduled to get super-fast fibre optic cable NBN connections by the end of 2016. The Federal Coalition government under Tony Abbott and now Malcolm Turnbull has not only stalled this program, but also rolled it back to copper wire connections for many residences and local businesses.

While some locals in parts of Petrie, Kallangur and Murrumba Downs are enjoying world class fibre optic cable connections thanks to the previous Labor Government, the rest of the Dickson community have been ripped off by the lazy decisions and will have to make do with a second rate version of the NBN that relies on the old copper and HFC networks.

Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare said some suburbs in Dickson have the worst internet connections in the country.

“Suburbs like Albany Creek and Ferny Hills have some of the poorest broadband access in Australia and have not been prioritised by the Turnbull government with the NBN not scheduled for installation to even begin until at least 2017 – well after the next Federal election.

“People already see broadband access as a basic utility.  They expect clean water out of the tap, power at the flick of a switch, a flushable toilet inside the house, and super fast and reliable broadband.”

Malcolm Turnbull promised before the last election that all homes in Australia would get the NBN by 2016.  He also promised that those areas that needed broadband most would get it first.

Both of these promises have been broken.

Senator Chris Ketter knows residents in Dickson are eager to see the roll out of fibre NBN.

“Many suburbs in the north west, like Brendale, Lawnton, Warner, Bray Park, Joyner, and Cashmere, are being left out in the cold waiting for a second rate version of the NBN that will no doubt have to be upgraded down the track anyway.”

Michael Gilliver is the Labor Candidate for Dickson and also a local high school teacher.  He says restoring the roll out of the NBN is not only important for local residents and businesses, but also for education.

“I want my kids, and my students, to have access to a superfast broadband.  It will give students and teachers across Australia access to the best resources and therefore improved educational outcomes.  If we are to sustain our local industries, create new jobs, spur the economy, and prepare our families for the future, we need our Federal Government to champion the cause of first-class internet speeds.

Why is Peter Dutton standing idly by?  There are some residents in Eatons Hill, Draper and Bunya that don’t have access to any form of fixed line broadband at all, let alone an installation date for the Coalition’s watered down NBN.

Our average internet speeds currently put Australia 30th in the world, behind places like Romania, Japan and New Zealand. I don’t like Australia being 30th in anything.  That is not good enough.

This shouldn’t be a political issue, it should be a commonsense issue.  At least residents can know for sure that a vote for Labor at the next federal election is a vote for more fibre.”

Michael Gilliver,

Michael Gilliver,  Labor Candidate for Dickson

Michael Gilliver,
Labor Candidate for Dickson

Labor Candidate for Dickson.      *


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