ts

Firstly, thank you for the opportunity to post here! No bad thing. I have a few issues with how the government is running this portfolio. I'm more than ready to acknowledge that this portfolio hasn't necessarily been run fantastically well throughout its history, but it's never been as important before as it is now. Especially with significant money about to be spent here. First off, the decision to drop OPEL still grates with me. Even if it achieved half its aims, it's still giving service to people who have no other options. Secondly, network building. New estates, for the last few years, have continued being built with copper. I live in an estate which is 8km from the exchange - this means it's impossible to provide ADSL services (ANY ADSL services) without local Nodes. So Telstra has installed Nodes. But they only provide DSL access for roughly 50% of the properties/phone lines that they service. This is a brand new estate - my house is 4 years old, and was one of the first built in my street. The last was only built in the last few months. Because of the inadequate supply of DSL, many people are forced onto 3G or alternative wireless services (which, in my case, was government-subsidised). Copper was an outdated method 4 years ago. Because of slow-moving regulation, which still allows the installation of outdated technologies, the government is paying now (in subsidies), consumers are suffering (higher prices, limited access), and the government will have to pay again. If these estates were built with FTTH - as they should have been - the NBN would not have to fund infrastructure in them. There is the argument that developers could've done more, but, at least in my estate, there is evidence that the developer wanted to, but couldn't find anyone willing to partner with them... The network builders generally don't see any good reason for building anything more than the minimum allowed, which does nothing but increase the cost (and therefore reduce the positive outcomes) of the NBN... Thirdly, Filtering the Internet. There is no evidence that this is widely wanted or workable. People who complain that unwanted sites 'appear' before them are people who need to take 5 minutes to 'tour' their computer's operating system. Internet Explorer has a very effective pop-up blocker. If they are still getting pop-ups, they need to improve their virus protection, as anti-virus programs will also protect against pop-ups. Pop-ups are a hazard to computer health, as well as generally linking to unwanted sites. So computer owners - parents, like myself - need to make sure their computers are secure. If pop-ups are blocked - as they should be - then nothing unwanted will find children. The only things that children will find are the things they search for... It's not worth destroying the internet's speed and freedom (yes, freedom) so that a few lazy parents couldn't be bothered to make sure their computer's secure. These parents believe that, if they can't get past the filter, kids won't be able to either. But they are completely wrong - kids will crack the filter (using any of the multiple options available - even if they still run at reduced speeds) before their parents know it's possible to crack the filter. And, of course, there is the point that the filter won't block peer to peer (as it shouldn't - not all P2P is illegal activity), won't read emails... Finally, the NBN. Given Filtering, the NBN does seem a little pointless. No point spending $4.7 Billion to improve internet speeds then spend $100 million to implement a filter which will destroy speeds, dropping them below ADSL1 speeds. But, further, the process seems extremely flawed. I didn't ever agree with the sell-off of Telstra Wholesale - there are some things where it's not practical to have competition. Like water supply, electricity supply (i.e. the wires into houses - power stations are another story), and fixed telecommunications (i.e. copper/optical fibre). Given the Government doesn't own the copper, why is it so fixed on using it? And encouraging other companies to use it? This will do nothing to improve our situation. Why? Because we're still connected to copper, which requires maintenance, which cannot transmit speeds as quickly as fibre, and which is owned by one of the 'bidders' - though the Telstra bid is a complete farce. Plus, for those currently able to get DSL2+ - which is a very good number of people in established areas (but not new estates) - we are looking at spending a good amount of money for an unknown (but not significant) increase in speed. This makes no sense. I'm not going to call for the head of the minister - though there are many calling for it. I'm calling for someone with expertise to be brought in to advise on the situation. Government appears to have frustrated every single player in this industry in the last few months. They know their industry better than Labor.