REGIONAL Communications Minister Fiona Nash has rejected claims by Labor that she believes rural Australians don't need the same internet speeds as those living in capital cities.
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Senator Nash said it was an “outright lie” that she'd made the statement about internet standards during media questioning after her recent address at the National Press Club in Canberra.
“We are never going to get the same things out in rural Australia that you have in the cities - they're apples and oranges - they're different places to live,” she said
“The speed you are going to get out in the western parts of Queensland is not going to be the same that you get in the CBD in Brisbane.
“I think rural Australians are pretty pragmatic - they get that."
Senator Nash said along with Communications Minister Mitch Fifield she has met with the NBN Co to talk about rural issues.
"Even the NBN co had said they didn't see the initial rollout as having gone as well as it should have," she said.
“Having had those conversations with NBN, I am confident that they are extremely focused on the importance of the data provision out in regions and that they are actively looking at ways to increase that.”
But Labor’s Spokesperson for Regional Communications, Stephen Jones said the Coalition’s Government's second rate “copper” NBN is a far cry from the fibre optic NBN that Labor had planned for.
"Labor’s fibre-optic NBN would have delivered an equivalent service to all regional towns like Young with more than 1,000 premises and the cities – to 93% of Australia," he said.
"The investment of around $15 billion in regional Australian telecommunications upgrade designed by Labor has been wasted by the Turnbull Government.
"It’s not just Labor saying this. At the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband, Professor Rod Tucker said the copper NBN is a national tragedy and by the time the NBN roll out is complete; the technology will already be obsolete. "Senator Nash should be demanding the same access for the bush. It’s her job."