Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last night I was talking about the need for clarity and certainty for greenfield sites. In my electorate, with the Surat coal basin, many developers have had to look at housing and industrial site developments without any certainty about how this infrastructure is to be rolled out—pipes and pits; is it going to be Telstra or will it be NBN Co.? The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy said there would be consultation with the industry, but every time the industry—in this case developers—went to either Telstra or NBN Co. they were not willing to give an answer because they did not know; this government had not consulted. At last we have some legislation that will enable developers to proceed with some certainty. However, the lack of industry consultation in coming to this position is disappointing. The government have failed to talk with stakeholders, they have failed to consult with the comm­unications industry, and in this whole project they have simply not done their homework.

In December last year Senator Conroy said in relation to government policy on these new developments:

It has been a consistent feature of the Government's policy in new developments that there should be room for competing providers.

We would agree with that. Senator Conroy went on:

This continues to be the case … Providers can compete to provide infrastructure in new developments, for example, by offering more tailored solutions to developers or more expeditious delivery.

Notwithstanding what the minister said in December last year, on 13 May this year NBN Co. issued a press release referring to an agreement signed with subcontractor Fujitsu and its construction partner Service Stream:

… Fujitsu will manage the design, construction and associated works for the deployment of fibre to new developments …

So much for consultation with the industry; so much for looking at competing ideas. This was just signed up—

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