Tony Windsor has demanded Barnaby Joyce “show some fibre” by coming clean on plans for the “stalled” rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) as the issue again rears its head.
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Mr Windsor accused Mr Joyce of “leaving his constituents behind” as the network is yet to be seen in Tamworth, despite the city being “fibre-to-the-premise” ready when he vacated the seat in 2013.
But Mr Joyce has hosed down lack of transparency claims, stressing that fibre to the node would be delivered to Tamworth in the first quarter of next year.
“It’s time for Mr Joyce to show some fibre and step up to explain to the people of the New England electorate where the rollout of the NBN is at and why it has stalled,” Mr Windsor said.
“We know Mr Abbott and Mr Joyce had the view during the hung parliament that the NBN would only be useful for downloading movies, but most Australians would disagree.
“If we are to be part of the innovative, agile and smart world that our Prime Minister speaks about, the global communicator NBN has to be a major component.”
Mr Joyce hit back at claims of the project stalling under the new government, saying the number of New England properties able to connect to the NBN had almost tripled since the 2013 election.
“There seems to be this idea that there is some kind of clandestine plot and we have changed our delivery structure for the NBN. We are not, it is so open. It’s in the first quarter of 2017 – fibre to the node in Tamworth,” he said.
In October 2015, NBN released its three-year rollout plan, which forecast about 39,900 homes and businesses in New England – 19,100 of those in Tamworth – would be either ready for service or under construction by the end of September 2018.
