What does Labor have against regional internet users?

Earlier this week, the Morrison Government announced that up to one million premises in regional, rural, and remote Australia and in peri-urban areas will have access to higher speeds on NBN fixed wireless services or greater data limits on Sky Muster under a $750 million co-investment between the Government and NBN.

Labor has been uncharacteristically silent about this significant upgrade, which will expand the fixed wireless footprint coverage by up to 50 per cent, enabling 120,000 additional premises to access fixed wireless services instead of Sky Muster satellite services.

However, Labor’s union masters have now belled the cat by denouncing the upgrade as “a joke.” Bizarrely, they have actually sharply criticised the Morrison Government for making a major funding commitment to benefit regional and remote broadband users, dismissing it as “throwing cash at the NBN.”

“Labor needs to come clean on what, if anything, it plans to do to provide better, faster internet services across the fixed wireless network,” said Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.

“The NBN is a critical part of our national regional infrastructure—creating jobs, connecting families, and supporting business.

“The upgrades we have announced this week, with an investment of $480 million from the Morrison Government, will directly benefit around 50, 000 regional businesses with active fixed wireless services.

“Regional and remote Australians deserve to know: will Labor back the Government’s $750 million plan? Or will Labor take its lead from its union masters and turn its back on regional and remote broadband users?”