South Australia is being left behind all other states on the rollout of Labor’s hapless National Broadband Network (NBN), Senator Simon Birmingham said today.
NBN Co the Government owned company charged with delivering the NBN today released its rollout schedule confirming there is no NBN construction currently underway in South Australia and little hope of any rollout soon.
“Despite all the hype from Labor, no construction work on the NBN is even underway in South Australia in contrast to every other state,” Senator Birmingham said today.
“South Australians are being told that work might start within the next 12 months, but NBN Co has so far failed to even sign a construction contract for South Australia meaning further delays are likely.
“Given that South Australia is the only state where NBN Co doesn’t even have anyone to build the network, and the delays and cost blowouts faced elsewhere to date, significant rollout next year seems to be based more on hope than on reality.
“More than $800 million dollars has been spent by NBN Co to date, yet in SA just 1100 homes have been passed and only a handful connected as part of a costly trial.
“The NBN is developing into another predictable Labor saga of waste and delay, with South Australians staring down the barrel of the longest delays.
“South Australians will rightly wonder why they’ve been left at the end of the queue for Labor’s overpriced NBN pipe dream.”