When Julia Keady took to Twitter to complain about the lack of broadband availability in the seaside town of Ocean Grove in Victoria, she received what she felt was a less than impressive response from the Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
"Bought a house in Ocean Grove. No NBN. No Cable. No ADSL 2 or 1. Back to the dongle. Prehistoric. @TurnbullMalcolm. Not good enough! #nbn”
Ms Keady, who is moving to Ocean Grove to raise her young family, told SBS her internet provider refused to upgrade the current exchange “due to the uncertainty with the NBN.”
Half an hour later, Minister Turnbull replied: “@SaysJuliaKeady just curious:- if connectivity was so vital to you why did you buy a house where there was no broadband available?"
Ms Keady told SBS she was disappointed by the “dismissive nature of his reply.”
“I felt I was being blamed for my circumstances because I am choosing to raise my family outside a metropolitan city.
“I was surprised by the nature of his tweets given that Ocean Grove is only 108km from Melbourne, and 25km from Geelong, one of Australia’s largest regional cities. We are not talking about a town in the middle of the desert.”
Other Tweeters came to Ms Keady’s defence and told Minister Turnbull it was his job to make the NBN available to all Australians, regardless of where they lived.
Mark Hoad wrote: "@TurnbullMalcolm @SaysJuliaKeady Mate do you even understand the bit where this is literally your job and that answer isn't acceptable?"
A minute later, Minister Turnbull tweeted back: “@mdhoad @SaysJuliaKeady of course it's my job to complete the NBN and I will do so sooner cheaper and more affordably than Labor cd ever do.”
A spokesman from Minister Turnbull's office told SBS the Labor government failed to assess areas that had limited infrastructure.
"[Ocean Grove is] one of those areas that you’d be looking to prioritise in the next round of the rollout of the NBN – and that was work that Labor didn’t do. They didn’t look at areas that were underserved or didn’t have access," he said.
"That’s something that we’re doing, which you would think is pretty straightforward to anyone that’s rolling out the NBN. But that didn’t happen until the new government came in and did it."
Last week, the first high rise apartments in the Melbourne suburbs of Carlton, Parkville and Brunswick were connected to the national broadband network using the cheaper, multi-technology approach taken by the Coalition government.
But as a small business owner, Ms Keady said servicing regional Australia is just as vital as city-dwellers, and believes there should be an interim solution.
“I want the same access to essential modern services that people have in the city,” she said.
“While I appreciate the complexities of an investment this size, I should think there is at least an interim solution while the government continues its audit. That means regional Australia doesn’t continue to be left without essential services.
“Leaving people without access for years would not be acceptable if this was sewerage, electricity, telephone or any other utility. Broadband access isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity for me and the millions of small business owners that power this country.”
#Turnbulllogic hashtag rolls out on Twitter
Online users have since started the Twitter hashtag #turnbulllogic in response to Minister Turnbull's comments.
Turnbull responds to online criticisms
On his blog, Minister Turnbull criticised the backlash he received on social media, saying users were quick to jump to conclusions.
Mr Turnbull wrote: "People prefer to make accusations and leap to conclusions than actually listen with an open mind and then judge whether whomever they are interacting with has something valid or interesting or helpful to say."
Minister Turnbull's office has been approached for comment.
See the full Twitter conversation below:
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