Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Hansard source

Eloquently, as the member opposite says. I will take that interjection. What we have before us now is a bill that was introduced into the House in this sitting period and now we know that the government is going to gut the bill. It is probably consistent with the story of the NBN rollout under this government. It is probably legislation to the node. They have got it to the despatch box, nice and fast and running well and fibre happening, and it hits the despatch box—there is no doubt a bit of copper on the despatch box here—and it is now petering out, failing and being gutted. So that is what we have before us with this particular piece of legislation. It should be no surprise, because that has been the story of the current Prime Minister's period as the minister managing the National Broadband Network rollout since he was given the task as the shadow minister to destroy it.

So we now see before us a bill that was introduced in, I can only say, if I am kind, a misguided effort—if I am realistic, I would probably say a very ideological effort—by the government to roll back a number of very important competition- and consumer-friendly reforms that underpin the National Broadband Network. My colleague across the table, the member for Riverina, and I did our inaugural regional and rural Australia session with Radio National.

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