Scott Morrison’s copper-based National Broadband Network is acting as a hand brake on productivity and making it more difficult for locals to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest figures from the Speedtest Global Index show Australia’s broadband internet speeds now rank 60th in the world behind Moldova, Bulgaria, Belarus and New Zealand. 

The Index listed Australia’s average broadband speed as 60.54 megabits per second in November, similar to speeds in Ukraine and Vietnam. The global leader was Singapore, with 241 megabits per second – four times faster than Australia.

Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann said Scott Morrison should be ashamed of these figures.

“Telecommunications is a big issue across this electorate, with constituents regularly outlining horror stories,’’ Mr Neumann said.

“Poor mobile phone coverage around the Somerset Region, the Karana Downs area and parts of Ipswich have seen residents left without reliable phone or internet for days or even weeks.

“This is a regular occurrence anytime there’s a significant rain event in some areas.

“This makes it pretty much impossible for people to work from home or run a small business.

“It makes it dangerous in remote areas, for people using the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail and throughout the storm or bushfire seasons.”

When the Government came to office, it replaced the former Labor Government’s plan for a NBN delivering fibre to the premises with a second-rate copper wire-based system that was out of date before it was even constructed.

“This Government finally admitted its error in September 2020 – after experiencing the NBN’s failures during the pandemic.

“While they have agreed to revert to Labor’s original NBN plan, it brings the cost of the NBN to $57 billion – some $30 billion more than what the Coalition Government said it would cost back in 2013.”

It has also been reported up to 238,000 NBN connections are still incapable delivering basic 25 megabit per second speeds, despite the Liberals promising everyone would have these minimum NBN speeds by 2016, and these speeds also being a requirement of Australian law.

“Scott Morrison’s incompetence and mismanagement on communications is holding back business growth, particularly in regional areas. It’s a disgrace.”