After breaking their promise to deliver the NBN “sooner”, the Abbott Government was now refusing to answer questions about the local rollout, Opposition Leader and Member for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten said today.

Mr Shorten said that local suburbs  which had previously been included in the former Labor Government’s rollout schedule, had disappeared from Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s list.

“Local residents are being kept in the dark on the NBN,” Mr Shorten said.

“NBN Co has only committed to releasing a 12 month rollout schedule ‘sometime next year’. But local residents deserve better.”

Mr Shorten said that under the Abbott Government, households could be forced to wait up to five years to find out when they will get NBN.

“This simply isn’t good enough. Understandably, Brimbank, Moonee Valley and Maribyrnong residents want to know what they can expect and when.”

Not only were residents being left in the dark on when they would get the NBN, Mr Shorten said, they were also in doubt about what kind of NBN it would be.

“Under Labor 93 per cent of Australians would have got fibre-to-the-premise broadband. But under this Government, only 24 per cent will get fibre-to-the-premises whilst 41 per cent will be forced to make do with fibre to a node. Another 28 per cent will have access to the NBN through the HFC network.”