AT LAST, the Coalition has come to its senses on the question of NBN for the West Coast.
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Its election pledge to give the region a mix of copper and fixed wireless broadband under a $18.5 million package on Friday could be a landmark moment for West Coast towns.
The satellite service they would have received under the previous roll-out plan would have saddled them unfairly with inferior digital infrastructure leaving them at a disadvantage compared to other regions.
This, despite being part of a regional economy trying to diversify and free itself of the booms and busts of mining with new industries.
The proposal was obviously a raw deal for the West. Queenstown would have been the largest town in Australia to rely on a satellite NBN service.
Yet its isolation and economic problems made it the very kind of town that a fibre-to-the-node or fibre-to-the-premises service would benefit most.
To give credit where it’s due, the West Coast community, led effectively by its council and businesses, made its concerns well known to the rest of Tasmania and its local federal MP, Brett Whiteley.
It stated its case clearly and maintained focus on the issue.
Mr Whiteley, who previously defended the proposed satellite service for the town, has yielded and no doubt the looming election sped this up.
Labor’s support of the West Coast’s broadband cause put him in a difficult position.
The West Coast has achieved a great outcome. No matter who wins the election, and granted each side keeps its promise, it will have fibre-to-the-premises or fibre-to-the-node NBN available.
Under the Coalition’s plan Queenstown, Rosebery and Zeehan will receive fibre-to-the-node, the same as Devonport and Burnie.
Strahan will receive fixed wireless to 363 premises, the same service intended for Kentish.
Labor upped the ante in April by saying it would return the West Coast to the fibre-to-the-premises map at a cost of $29 million.
The region can look forward to the fast internet speeds needed to open its economy up to new businesses. Education and healthcare providers will benefit too.
It’s a well-deserved and much-needed victory.