BLAIR MP Shayne Neumann has labelled Australia’s lagging broadband speeds as a “handbrake” on the nation’s productivity that is hampering efforts to work from home during the COVID pandemic.

The latest figures from the Speedtest Global Index show Australia’s broadband internet speeds now rank 60th in the world behind the likes of Moldova, Bulgaria, Belarus and New Zealand.

The Index listed Australia’s average broadband speed as 60.54 megabits per second in November, similar to speeds in Ukraine and Vietnam.

The global leader was Singapore, with 241 megabits per second – four times faster than Australia.

Mr Neumann said Blair residents were regularly coming to him with horror stories about poor internet speeds and mobile phone coverage.

“Poor mobile phone coverage around the Somerset Region, the Karana Downs area and parts of Ipswich have seen residents left without reliable phone or internet for days or even weeks,” he said.

“This is a regular occurrence anytime there’s a significant rain event in some areas.

“This makes it pretty much impossible for people to work from home or run a small business.

“It makes it dangerous in remote areas, for people using the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail and throughout the storm or bushfire seasons.”

Mr Neumann said the decision by the LNP Government to use a second-rate copper wire system over the former Labor government’s fire to the premises scheme had come back to bite them.

“This Government finally admitted its error in September 2020 – after experiencing the NBN’s failures during the pandemic,” he said.

“While they have agreed to revert to Labor’s original NBN plan, it brings the cost of the NBN to $57 billion, some $30 billion more than what the Coalition Government said it would cost back in 2013.”