NBN audit to be conducted by local industry group

The calls of former local Regional Development Australia chair Mr David Abrahams for a detailed audit of the NBN rollout on the NSW Central Coast has been taken up by a local industry group.

Mr Abrahams said he had gained the backing and support for the audit from the local IT/digital industry group, Coastal Connexxions, which will now conduct its own audit.

"We are now calling on community, education and business groups to assist in distributing the online survey that can be found at organise.net.au/NBNauditCC."

Mr Abraham said his call for an audit had received strong public support but has fallen on deaf ears in government and at NBN Co.

"The whole region knows of problems with the NBN rollout.

"The idea of the audit is to identify problems and to replicate successes.

Co-convenors of the Coastal Connexxions, Mr Tim Willcox and Mr Edgar Adams, said they believed an audit was a sound and sensible idea.

"There have been some good successes with the NBN rollout locally, though there are also major issues for many," Mr Willcox said.

"We are now using the expertise of our IT group to create our own self-funded audit," he said.

The Central Coast NBN audit will have both a simple online survey and an in depth case study section.

The results will then be mapped up to the known NBN infrastructure map for accurate identification of successes and of problem areas.

The survey gives people ample opportunity to tell their stories in a disciplined and standardised fashion.

"We expect the report to be very informative," Mr Abrahams said.

"The information could undoubtedly save significant amounts of money if applied by the NBN Co.

"The audit will run for 30 days and the report will be collated and published after the numbers and stories are crunched and edited.

"The report will be made public and handed over to local MPs, Ministers, the NBN Co and Telcos."

Coastal Connexions is calling on everyone with an NBN story, good, bad or otherwise to complete the survey.

"We encourage other community groups to spread the word.

Media release, Sep 20, 2016

Dave Abrahams, Organise IT