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NBN: Australia’s internet speeds under the spotlight on Q&A

YOUNG Wyatt Roy copped a grilling on Q&A last night as one audience member took him to task over the NBN.

Debra KillaleaDebra Killalea
@DebKillalea
3 min read
March 29, 2016 - 11:17AM
Q&A: Ed Husic says we need NBN now

LIBERAL MP Wyatt Roy has copped a grilling as painful as Australia’s internet speeds.

Last night, the Assistant Minister for Innovation was taken to task over the country’s slow and embarrassing internet speeds on Q&A.

The show, which focused on innovation, collaboration and the NBN, descended into a debate on the country’s internet capabilities after audience member Simon Van Wyk questioned the youngest-ever federal MP over the issue.

“The NBN was going to be a cornerstone investment in the country’s infrastructure to drive the innovation ecosystem that we have talked about but also in the information economy,” Mr Van Wyk said.

“Under the tutelage of the Prime Minister, we have seen the broadband speeds in Australia go from being 30th in the world to now 60th in the world. I’d like to know why the Government talks about wanting innovation but seems to be actively undermining the actual ecosystem that was going to drive some of that innovation, particularly outside the capital cities.”

Simon Van Wyk asked the question on Australia’s lips. Picture: Q&A.
Simon Van Wyk asked the question on Australia’s lips. Picture: Q&A.

Mr Roy replied that of course he wanted Australians to have the world’s best internet at no cost, which caused host Tony Jones to ask: “Why would you say at no cost? Everyone knows it will cost something?”

Mr Roy said it was important to separate rhetoric and reality before going on to mention that in his own electorate, Longman, 45 minutes north of Brisbane, 40,000 people have just been switched on to the NBN.

“These are people who had dial-up speed internet. I don’t think there is any point as a country saying you are going to wait a very, very long time for those sorts of people who are excluded from this conversation, not people in this room or this city with good internet connections, but 40 minutes from a capital city with dial-up speeds excluded from the gains you are talking about.”

But after attempting to explain why the roll out wasn’t perfect and how he’d rather have slow internet now and a system that wasn’t perfect rather than nothing for five years, the panellists began to really fire up.

Noticing the tension both on the panel and in the audience the Q&A host then asked Labor MP Ed Husic what he thought about it all.

“We will have an ideas boom after we get through the buffering basically,” he said as the audience clapped.

Labor MP Ed Husic had a few things to say about the NBN.
Labor MP Ed Husic had a few things to say about the NBN.

“We are going to go to an election based on a thing that not many people talk about, the ABCC, but not going to go to an election talking about the things people want to see done — the NBN.”

Q&A: Ed Husic says we need NBN now

Mr Husic went on to say that when Mr Turnbull took over as Communications Minister, Australia was ranked 30th in the world in terms of broadband speeds and are now ranked 60th.

“Most people would be demoted with a record like that, yet he got promoted to Prime Minister. It’s not good enough,” Mr Husic said.

“If we talk about innovation being a national effort, we need to see everyone involved, all hands on deck and the regions involved. We can’t get them involved if our broadband speeds and broadband availability is at what it’s at.”

Mr Husic also said communities not only needed better broadband access and better speeds but more importantly needed to use that to create economic opportunities.

“The thing is the Coalition tried to portray the NBN when they couldn’t destroy it as something that would enable Netflix to happen quicker,” he said.

He added the reality was regional areas needed fast internet in order to be innovative and to have an economic advantage.

While the panellists and audience were fired up, so were Twitter with many commenting not only on the country’s slow internet speed but the government’s role in undermine the NBN.

Some simply saw the lighter side of things, while others commented on the irony of the saga.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/nbn/nbn-australias-internet-speeds-under-the-spotlight-on-qa/news-story/d1829900fd971d101e24feea081105d0