Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The stated purpose from the Minister of Communications when this bill was introduced was that this bill will amend the original Labor legislation to remove conditions enabling a future government to privatise NBN. She said:

The bill provides certainty to stakeholders, including broadband consumers, the wider telecommunications industry, broadband retailers, and NBN Co, that the Commonwealth will continue to retain ownership of NBN Co.

Unless I have missed something over the last few weeks, there has been no conversation about NBN, about changing the public ownership, except from those on that side of the chamber. Why is this? This is legislation that is, in fact, amending the government's previous legislation.

Just by way of background, the Rudd Labor government—we all remember that Labor government—announced the establishment of a new NBN Co to build and operate a new fast national broadband network. When the legislation was introduced, it was anticipated that the government would be the NBN Co's major shareholder but there would also be significant private investment in the company. It was said:

The Government will make an initial investment in this company but intends to sell down its interest in the company within 5 years after the network is built and fully operational, consistent with market conditions, and national and identity security considerations.

Then we had the introduction of the National Broadband Network Companies Bill 2011. It was passed in March 2011. In the second reading speech, the then Minister for Infrastructure and Transport—who is, I believe, the current Prime Minister, Mr Albanese—stated:

The first bill in the package, the NBN companies bill … also sets out—

and this is important—

arrangements for the eventual sale of the Commonwealth's stake in the company once the NBN rollout is complete, including provisions for independent and parliamentary reviews prior to any privatisation, and for the parliament to have the final say on the sale.

…   …   …

As such, the bill deals with arrangements for both today and into the future.

That is a direct quote from the then Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, who now holds the highest political office in the land.

Then, if we come to the actual nature of NBN Co, it is an unlisted public company, limited by shares incorporated under the Corporations Act, and is a Commonwealth company for the purposes of various other acts. It was established in 2009 as a government business enterprise by the federal government, which is its sole shareholder.

We now come to 2022. As I've said before, this bill is nothing but a sad stunt. This is designed to create confected debate that somehow those on our side or perhaps their friends in the Greens—somewhere, somebody—has some intention to sell off the NBN. There is no intention on our side. Nobody's talking about changing the ownership of the NBN—not the coalition and not anyone else I've heard in this place. This is just a shambolic attempt by a government that is really frightened to address the real issue affecting Australians, which is cost of living. Also, in my electorate, there are plenty of Australians very upset with the NBN service that is being delivered under this communications minister and under this government and even more upset—

A government member interjecting

I would say to the honourable member that you are very welcome to go to Bundeena, as I have done, and see the sort of internet coverage they have down there. I've made representations to the minister. I will quote that in a minute.

Labor have done this before. They are the party of 'Mediscare'. Now it is nothing but 'NBN-scare'. This is done to simply distract from the issues that they know about. Those on that side have been back in their electorates for weeks. Their constituents are telling them exactly the same thing that our constituents are telling us. They are not happy with this government. This government is not addressing their cost-of-living issues. They are a party known for making up fake election campaigns.

So, when we see a government that is getting hammered on all fronts, what happens? They go, 'Let's quickly do something.' I wonder how this transpired in the party room. Did someone say, 'I have a really good idea today; let's pretend that the coalition are going to sell off the NBN'? And everyone said: 'Oh, yes. That sounds like a really good idea.' At a time when Australians are desperate for help with a cost-of-living crisis, this Labor Party is more focused on political games than fixing the problems facing everyday families. We on our side know it, my electorate knows it and their electorates know it as well. They are now seeing it. They are seeing what we have seen sitting here for 2½ years. It's probably a government that will go down as the worst government in history. My parents, who are old enough to remember Whitlam, always said to me, 'We will never see a government worse than Whitlam's.' Then we had Rudd. They said, 'We will never see a government worse than Rudd's.' But we are now seeing a government far worse than either of those two former failed Labor governments.

I want to touch on what has happened with the NBN under this minister and under the watch of this Prime Minister. There's been a major decline in the NBN. They have essentially hammered Australians with massive NBN price increases. We've seen six million families smashed by NBN price increases of up to 14 per cent since October last year. Over the same time period, the NBN's brownfields business, meaning existing homes, has lost almost 100,000 customers. So how on earth can this be lauded as some great success of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Communications? It's not. This is just a lame stunt from a lame government.

Instead, they—the Minister for Communications, particularly, and the Prime Minister—could be talking about an issue that is of concern in the community, which is the need for gambling advertising reform. I asked the question three weeks ago to the Minister for Communications, and she couldn't answer it. My friend the member for Menzies also asked the question. We were the two from this side that were on that inquiry. It was chaired by the former member for Dunkley, Peta Murphy. After Ms Murphy passed away, there were commitments made by a whole lot of us that we would continue with the work that was done on that inquiry. What has happened since? It was presented to the minister in June 2023. Where is it? She still can't answer questions. The minister cannot answer questions in question time as to whether she's going to adopt the recommendations and when.

In 1996, John Howard had been admitted for a couple of weeks, and we had the tragic massacre down in Port Arthur. John Howard at the time had to stare down members of his own party—members of his coalition party and a lot of the Liberal Party's base—because he knew in his heart that Australia needed gun reform. That changed the nature of Australia. Why is it then that—

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