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

I thank the honourable member for his question. The Vertigan panel—chaired by Michael Vertigan himself and with Henry Ergas, Tony Shaw and Alison Deans—has now produced the final volume of its report. The first part, of course, was the cost-benefit analysis that was published some time ago and today the regulatory review of broadband was formally released. It is a very important work. We are looking forward to public discussion and feedback on it from stakeholders and the industry in particular.

There are a number of recommendations that are very important. One is so important that we responded to it immediately. The panel made the point that, of course, the creation of this gigantic telecom monopoly is hardly conducive to competition. They recommended that the government consider breaking the NBN up into component parts which could in due course compete with each other. There is a lot of merit in that suggestion but it is not a proposal that could be undertaken today. The task of the new management, headed by Bill Morrow, is to sort out Labor's mess and get the project built. That is a formidable task. They need to focus on that: getting the project built as quickly and as cost effectively as possible and ensuring that everybody has access to very fast broadband as soon as possible. The restructuring issues are a matter for a later time after the project is complete.

The honourable member also asked me about reactions. In terms of the House today, there has been no reaction from the shadow minister, the member for Blaxland, but on the doors he was filled with fury—he was ranting, raving and accusing me of breaking promises. He does that almost every day, but he never asks a question of me here. And I ask myself: how can the member for Blaxland be a lion on the doors but just a little mouse in the chamber? What is it? I thought maybe he had had too much sugary cereal for his breakfast—his sugar levels were up and he was full of energy. As the day wears on he gets slower and slower and slower until he gets to question time and then he can hardly stay awake.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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