The status of NBN connections to thousands of homes and businesses across the Illawarra is now unclear.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
A roll-out map on the NBN Co website previously listed areas where construction was due to begin within 12 months or three years.
Most of the Illawarra fell into one of those two categories as recently as last week.
However, Wednesday's revised map removed those categories and features just those locations where the service is already up and running or a contract exists.
That includes Kiama, areas of Dapto and Koonawarra, the Wollongong CBD and areas of Corrimal, east of Memorial Drive.
Anyone outside those areas is now in the dark.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird and Throsby colleague Stephen Jones yesterday launched ‘‘Put Us Back On The Map, Malcolm’’, a campaign directed at Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
‘‘Whole suburbs that have been anticipating the roll-out commencing to bring the fibre to their home will be shocked to discover they have been taken completely off the map,’’ Ms Bird said.
‘‘We have spent the last two years working with our local community to develop new models of businesses and service delivery to help with the transformation of our region and now we are in complete limbo thanks to the Abbott government – it is even worse than we feared in the election campaign.’’
Mr Jones said the number of homes and businesses effectively taken off the map was almost 29,000.
‘‘I know right now the people of Dapto are confused – and they have every right to be,’’ Mr Jones said.
‘‘They are seeing the NBN trucks outside their windows laying fibre, ready to be connected, without any indication of what the new government is planning on doing about this critical project.’’
A spokesman for Mr Turnbull could not be contacted yesterday, however a statement released on Mr Turnbull’s website concerning the NBN roll-out in Tasmania said there was an issue with the ALP’s implementation.
‘‘Labor created a misleading metric of ‘construction commenced or completed’, which was initiated as soon as high level planning began and was designed to create the impression that there was far more construction activity than was actually the case,’’ the statement said.
‘‘The new maps reflect only areas where physical construction has begun, meaning that those communities have greater certainty about when the network will be active and when they can expect to order their services.’’
