Project Update - 24/12/2024

Fibre project descoped!

For those unaware, late on Friday the 20th of December Opticomm emailed residents registered with it to advise that the community Fibre network project had been “descoped” and that, while Sutton township and some immediately surrounding areas would be completed, it would no longer be providing a fibre network to the residents of Bywong and Wamboin.

This advice was issued in a cowardly fashion and Opticomm deserves our derision. The company has been spinning us along for the last year – repeatedly stating their firm commitment to delivering the project in its previous updates. Those few residents in Sutton who have connected to Opticomm’s service might like to think again about using a service provided by a company that treats commitment so loosely. Marketing folk know that when you have bad news for a customer you do so just before a holiday and this practice is generally referred to as “taking out the garbage”. And garbage their communication certainly is.

Perhaps of greater importance though is what the communication failed to include. To be blunt it presented a far from accurate picture of the contribution the NSW Government and the Department of Regional NSW had in causing the project to fail. The communication makes it clear that the decision was taken in “consultation with the NSW Government” and that both “Opticomm and the NSW Government acknowledge the frustration caused by project delays and the decision to descope the project.” Descope !! Talk about euphemisms.

Just six months ago the NSW Audit office published a report on the Regional Digital Connectivity Program (RDCP) – and our Fibre project got special mention in that audit report … for all the wrong reasons. While Opticomm’s communication claimed that the decision arose from increased costs and the loss of its sub-contractor, it failed to mention the primary cause of the failure of the project. As identified by the Audit report, that is the NSW Government itself and in particular the Department of Regional NSW.

Consider the following failings by the Department of Regional NSW identified by the Auditor. The Department:

• had not “developed an overarching investment strategy” for the RDCP;

• is responsible for “deficiencies in project and risk management [that] have contributed to delays in the department’s implementation of the program.”

• failed in many aspects of basic project management. In particular, “The department has not met any of its expected timelines, with some projects delayed by over a year compared to their initial planned timelines.”

• “provided limited evidence of effective project management practices in place to monitor overall progress against program timelines, such as regularly updating a detailed project plan.”

And, in the context of our community Fibre project , the Auditor had the following to say:

“Each project in the RDCP has been delayed beyond its initially planned completion date, and the Wamboin, Bywong and Sutton project has been delayed beyond both its original planned completion date and its revised completion date. Deficiencies in project management and risk management have contributed to delays in the department’s implementation of the program.”

If the Department had managed the procurement process and project competently it would have been delivered on time and there would not have been any cost increases.

A number of residents have asked if our local member, Steve Whan, was involved in this decision.

The full WCAG committee met with Mr Whan in person on 27 November 2024 to discuss the delays in the project. Nothing he said in that meeting gave the committee any confidence that he would continue to support the project – quite the opposite. He stated that there were more important items needing his attention and NSW Government funding. This included, for example, works in Queanbeyan such as upgrading a major roundabout. When challenged regarding the apparent inequity arising from a focus on regional townships, the only response was that they funded the schools. He was unable to mention a single specific contribution by the Government towards the residents of Wamboin and Bywong. When we raised the point that the NSW Government seemed to believe in the concept of funding fibre networks for communities (as it had recently contracted with Opticomm to deliver a similar fibre-based service to two other communities in NSW), his response was to point out that these were to be built in townships - not in rural areas. We also pointed out that over the last year, WCAG had made three requests to meet with the Minister responsible for our project - Tara Moriarty - and that she had failed to agree to any of these requests. We left that meeting with a sense that a decision regarding the future of the project had already been made and that Steve Whan was, at best, ambivalent towards our project’s completion and that the NSW Government was not particularly concerned about addressing the needs of residents in rural areas of the state.

The contract value, in terms of Government funding, was for approximately $12.5 million and comes from a special fund set aside to support Rural and Regional communities – not to help offset the NSW Government’s budget deficit, and in particular its overspend on multi-billion dollar train stations in Sydney.

Also, don’t worry about Opticomm – we’re sure they won’t walk away out of pocket as a result of not living up to their numerous commitments to fully complete this project.

If you’d like to contact Steve Whan and tell him how you feel about the NSW Government’s decision to cancel our project you can email him at monaro@parliament.nsw.gov.au or ring his office on 62994899.

The members of the WCAG committee do not intend to let this announcement by the NSW Government represent the end of its aim of delivering a reliable, high-speed broadband service to the Wamboin and Bywong communities. Thanks to the many residents that have reached out to us – mostly expressing their disappointment and/or disgust at the announcement.

WCAG is well aware that many residents are posting comments about this decision on Facebook and other social media sites. Some of you are emailing us directly or including us in your messages to Steve Whan. It would be helpful if we were able to consolidate much of this feedback and to use it in future exchanges with Government and related/interested parties. So please do email us with your comments - even if this is only to duplicate what you’ve already posted. The WCAG email address is wamboincommunications@gmail.com

We will have more to say on this in due course but for now let us wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Please find below the pdf file that Opticomm sent to it's list of registered residents. This has been placed here so that all parties can see the message.