The Labor Party's communications spokesperson Michelle Rowland has taken aim at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the national broadband network rollout, pointing out that criticism of the network is now coming from his own side of politics.
Rowland pointed to statements made by Nationals Mallee MP Andrew Broad and former Liberal MP Fiona Scott, both of which were critical of the policy adopted by the government for the NBN rollout and followed by the NBN Co.
Broad, the lone Nationals MP on the joint standing committee on the National Broadband Network, gave an interview to The Guardian Australia in which he was fairly scathing about the rollout.
"You’ve got retailers blaming the service provider and then they get exasperated and they come into our office and you end up having to spend all your time having to sort it out," Broad said.
{loadposition sam08}"We almost have a person full-time on mobile phone and NBN issues in our electoral office — which is ridiculous — that is not the role of an MP."
Michelle Rowland: "It’s high time the out of touch Turnbull Government acts to address the NBN crisis affecting regional Australia."
Rowland said that Broad, who did not put his name to a dissenting Coalition view in the first report by the committee, had told the ABC that there were clear improvements needed in the rollout "and that something needs to be done".
The committee's main recommendation was that more fibre should be part of the rollout, with fibre-to-the-kerb and fibre-to-the-distribution-point used as much as possible for the remainder of the rollout in preference to fibre-to-the-node.
"...Broad accepts that the government has got many aspects of the NBN rollout wrong, particularly in regional Australia," Rowland said. "Given his concerns, it is no surprise [he] chose not to put his name to the dissenting report issued by the Liberal Party."
Rowland also cited comments made by Scott on Sky News where she was reported to have said: "The biggest concern I have with this issue today is that there is proving to be a tech divide between the city and the country. NBN is just proving to not necessarily have a business case that’s going to work for regional people."
"Even people from the government’s own corner are criticising the bungled project under his failed leadership," Rowland said. "Turnbull cannot continue to ignore this crisis and the emerging pleas of his own party.
"Both Broad and Scott agree, something needs to be done. It’s high time the out of touch Turnbull Government acts to address the NBN crisis affecting regional Australia."