Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The thing is, Member for Hughes, you guys made this a big deal. This was your priority. 'We have to do cost-benefit analysis before any project that we do.' That is what you used to say. But then you spent the first 12 months throwing buckets of cash at projects—and you did not do a cost-benefit analysis until when? It is now nearly October and only now is this bill before the chamber. It is a farce. Look at all the projects that you did!

With the NBN, you criticised us for not doing a cost-benefit analysis, but then you went and defamed the NBN project. You put together a bunch of people to do your so-called 'cost-benefit analysis'. Among them you included Henry Ergas, a noted critic of the project—and he has been for ages. It is his right to be a critic, but it is not the right of the government to put someone in who has a fixed view, who will deliver a predetermined outcome from what was supposed to be an objective cost-benefit analysis. Off the top of your head, Member for Melbourne Ports, what conclusion do you think Henry Ergas arrived at after his cost-benefit analysis? Do you reckon he thought the NBN was good value for money?

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