Peninsula Community Access Edition 379
News Phone 4325 7369 Fax 4321 0940
26 October 2015
Labor members call for release of NBN trial results Labor Party members in the Robertson electorate are calling for the results of NBN trials which started over a year ago on the Peninsula to be released. The party’s Robertson Electorate Council secretary Mr Pat Norman is speculating that costs have blown out. “Why are we installing an expensive and significantly inferior NBN in Umina and Woy Woy?” he asked. “Much media spin was made about these trials at the time,” said Mr Norman. “Interestingly though, the government has not released the results of those trials including Mr Turnbull’s cost-benefit analysis,” Mr Norman said. “NBN Co has refused to answer trial costings questions to the Senate committee enquiry into the NBN rollout. “Indeed, the NBN leadership has refused to attend the Senate committee enquiry to answer these questions. “This leads many to speculate that the costing of the watereddown node trials have blown out considerably. “If these nodes cost so much when compared to the full fibre
NBN installed in Gosford, East Gosford and Springfield, why is the NBN Co still rolling them out? “It looks certain that the Central Coast will see two, very divided classes of telecommunications service: the real, full-fibre NBN versus the expensive, less reliable and slower node-based NBN. “Mr Turnbull alluded to a significant cost increase in the Coalition’s NBN in one of his last speeches as Communications Minister in the parliament. “He flagged increasing the government investment envelope into the NBN Co by many hundreds of millions of dollars. “Why is this the case, when the Coalition promised a reliable, cheaper network built faster? “Clearly, this is yet another expensive broken promise. “As members of the Labor party on the Central Coast, we are proud to have helped the community gain the original full fibre NBN investment into the area. “We are now concerned that the current government is ruining that valuable investment in our future, and not saving any money in the process.” Media release, 16 Oct 2015 Pat Norman, Australian Labor Party Robertson electorate
Local members of the Labor Party want to know if the Peninsula's fibre to node NBN is inferior to fibre to home
Inform dog owners about guide dogs, says councillor Dog owners on the Peninsula should be informed about the needs of guide dogs and other companion animals and their owners, according to Gosford councillor Gabby Bowles. She said she believed many dog owners, particularly those who use off-leash areas on the Peninsula, did not have a good understanding of companion animals. “Dogs are not being adequately controlled in off-leash areas,” Cr Bowles said. “This is specifically a problem with people who allow their dogs to approach guide dogs,” she said. Ms Bowles said visuallyimpaired Peninsula residents with guide dogs had experienced
Node trials were carried out in Woy Woy and Umina
ongoing difficulties with people insisting their off-leash dogs were friendly and should be able to approach a guide dog. “What they don’t understand is that an assistance dog is a working dog. “It is not supposed to interact with other people or other animals.” Cr Bowles said she was aware that Gosford Council had received requests from residents to appoint a companion animals officer. “I am not sure how common they are within other councils and there are issues with the Companion Animals Act,” she said. The Companion Animals Act, according to Ms Bowles, was open to varying interpretations in its provisions for assistance animals. She also said she thought it
was unlikely that Gosford Council would be able to make such an appointment, given the current reform process it was being subjected to. “The main issue is that the owners of off-leash dogs may not be educated about the role of a companion animal and may not be aware that approaches by off-leash pets can cause the companion animal and its owner distress. “I know one visually-impaired woman who lives on the Peninsula who is a big advocate of the off leash areas, but her dog is ending up with anxiety issues because other people insist on allowing their dogs to approach her guide dog.” Interview, 22 Oct 2015 Gabby Bowles, Gosford Council
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