Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband) Share this | Hansard source

PMG—exactly. A very good decision was taken to privatise it, and now the government is seeking not only to turn back the clock but also to make it practically impossible for this new government-owned monopoly to be disposed of. We note that there is a proposal to have a Productivity Commission inquiry prior to any sale, assuming that the network has been completed. It is remarkable that the government would agree to have a Productivity Commission inquiry into the sale of a $50 billion investment but not to have a Productivity Commission inquiry into whether it should be established in the first place. But this is just one of many incongruities that we see in the government’s approach to this matter. That is the first set of opposition amendments and it relates, as I said, to the Commonwealth ownership provisions.

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