The Labor member for Wills, Peter Khalil, has raised the removal of five Melbourne suburbs from the NBN rollout plan in parliament.
The suburbs of Pascoe Vale, Glenroy, Fawkner, Hadfield and Coburg were supposed to be linked to the network in the second half of this year.
But they were all quietly removed from the plan, Khalil said on Wednesday. The matter was first brought to light by a News Corporation tabloid in September.
Khalil told the house that he regularly heard complaints from residents and businesspeople in his electorate about the poor quality of the Internet service accessible at their homes and offices.
{loadposition sam08}"And so it was especially disappointing to discover that the long-scheduled date for connection to the NBN has been quietly cancelled by this government in Pascoe Vale, Glenroy, Fawkner, Hadfield and Coburg, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne," he said.
Peter Khalil says the promise of a long overdue upgrade has been "silently, sneakily broken by the government".
"These people are eager to access the benefits unlocked by the most important infrastructure project in the nation.
"It is for good reason; we all know the profound economic, educational, entertainment and societal value of broadband connectivity."
Khalil said it had taken one eagle-eyed citizen of Wills named Lachlan Cunningham to notice that the promise of a long overdue upgrade had been "silently, sneakily broken by the government".
"On its watch, it has been quietly removed from the (NBN Co) website. Alas, there has not been any revised rollout date announced; we are left with no idea when access to this essential modern infrastructure will become a reality for all the people of Wills. That is a shame.
"Worse still, some of their neighbours in adjacent suburbs are connected to the NBN because it was rolled out by the previous Labor government."
The government says the NBN rollout will be completed by 2020.