Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have seen some weird things in this place in my short time here but this desperate move by the Albanese government is right up there, taking a podium place in the super weird and unnecessary category of legislation coming before the Australian parliament this term.

Last sitting period the government, literally apropos of nothing, ran into the chamber at 9.01 on 9 October to present this bill, the National Broadband Network Companies Amendment (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024.

There followed the strangest of second reading speeches, first from the Minister of Communications and then from the Prime Minister himself—with a hitherto unrecognised passion for telecommunications policy—in which he lauded the NBN and its importance to the Australian community like he'd just discovered the internet. There followed a question time in which almost every question from the government to itself went to the ownership of the NBN and the desperate, urgent need to safeguard the future of the NBN. What? Where on earth did this come from? Has there been a raging debate about the public or private nature of the NBN? No. Is the NBN about to go broke, and it needs a public bailout? No. Is there a secret plan on either side to sell the NBN? No. Is there a problem of any sort to solve with the NBN being in public or private ownership? No, there is not.

I can tell you what the problem is that this Albanese Labor government is trying to solve for. It's the truly terrible political freefall situation in which the Prime Minister finds himself as we head into an election year. It has been a truly terrible few weeks for the Prime Minister—in fact a terrible few months, in fact a truly terrible end to 2024 and, let's be honest, an entirely terrible term of parliament.

In his speech on this bill, the Prime Minister talked about all the things the NBN is able to do to help this country get ahead and achieve. And I agree, having served on the board of the NBN from July 2018 until I resigned to seek preselection to stand in the 2022 federal election. I agree with the Prime Minister wholeheartedly. The NBN has greatly facilitated banking, health and education. But for the coalition government changing to a multitechnology mix back in 2013, the NBN would never have been finalised in time to get this country through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PM didn't mention the difference the NBN has made to entertainment, with all the high-quality streaming into our homes and the exceptional Australian content we are now able to see on our hand-held screens—except that's not what it did.

As an aside, you see—I note the irony—on the morning that the Prime Minister rushed in here to present this supposedly urgent legislation, I was meeting with Screen Producers Australia, representatives of Hoodlum Entertainment, Archipelago Productions, the Film Television and Radio School, Fremantle Australia, Ludo Studio, Media Stockade, New Town Films, the National Institute of Dramatic Art and Roadshow—great, great Australians who have contributed over decades to our best Australian content, like Bluey, Neighbours, Wentworth, HeartbreakHigh, Grand DesignsI love that show—and RedDog, Happy Feet, Muriel's Wedding, Mao's Last Dancer and The Castle. They explained to me the crisis confronting their industry. Two years ago they were promised a local content quota for the streaming corporations, which was going to take effect on 1 July 2024. Here we are, two years since that promise was made, and the sector has heard precisely nothing from the Albanese government—no action, no support for our local screen industry and, frankly, no sign of support between now and the next election. Yet somehow—somehow—saving the NBN is the most vital thing to the Australian economy. It can be pulled from the blue—urgent, urgent, urgent—and drafted overnight. The NBN must be saved! Why, you may ask.

The minister and Prime Minister have been keen to tell us this legislation will ensure NBN prices are more affordable for consumers. What? I'm sorry, you just couldn't make this stuff up. NBN prices since this government was elected have gone up. Back in October 2023, NBN announced significant changes to its pricing. Lighter use packages got cheaper, and prices for NBN 25 and NBN 100 got cheaper—excellent—but prices for the much more popular NBN 50 package went up. So now some six million Australian households are paying up to 14 per cent more for their NBN packages with one of the retailers. Did these changes result from careful pricing, planning and direction from the Albanese government? No. They happened because the NBN finally settled its special access undertaking with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Earlier this year, on 1 May, the NBN said in a press release:

Like many other businesses in Australia and worldwide, nbn has been impacted by higher input costs of materials from suppliers. The wholesale prices that nbn charges to retailers in FY25 will increase by approximately 4.1 per cent, on average, across nbn's range of wholesale services. This reflects the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index … over the twelve months to the December 2023 quarter.

The NBN's prices road map is influenced by the CPI, and we all know this government's record on the CPI. Under this government, monthly CPI reached a peak at over eight per cent in December 2022, and almost two years later we are finally seeing an inflation rate with a two in front of it, consistent with the Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation target of two to three per cent, but core inflation, the figure that matters most and on which the RBA makes its decisions regarding interest rates, remains at 3.5 per cent, higher than all of our major trading partners—higher than the US, the UK and Canada—and the IMF predicts it will remain at 3.6 per cent in 2025, higher than its forecast for Germany at 2.1, the UK at two, Canada and the USA 1.9 and France, Italy and Japan at 1.8. The rest of the world is already seeing interest rate relief—but not here. Therefore, it should be no surprise that a record number of small businesses are failing.

On the same morning as the Prime Minister and minister for communications rushed in here with their urgent bill, the Australian had an article which read as follows: 'Company insolvencies have hit record highs, with more than 6,600 firms faltering in the six months to September, fuelling warnings small businesses are struggling to stay afloat amid high inflation and interest, increasingly complex regulations and cyberattacks.' Australian insolvency statistics revealed by ASIC reveal company insolvencies capturing firms entering external administration for the first time hit 11,053 in 2023-24, swelling overall insolvencies since the 2022 election to 22,800.

Well, I've got some good news for those 22,800 companies that have gone broke since this Albanese government was elected: the NBN is going to stay in public hands. I'm sorry to break the news, but the NBN is in public hands and it has been since the legislation was passed to create the NBN in 2011. This government has done nothing—literally nothing—to bring NBN prices down either between 2011 and 13, when they lost power, or since their return to the Treasury benches in 2022. Nor—news flash—could it, lest it want to risk being found to be a shadow director of the NBN board.

If anyone today is wondering why the Albanese government is doing this—is it something clearly thought through, carefully planned? Did they have a long-term goal to remove the otherwise even-longer-term possibility of maybe one day privatising the NBN, the process for which is set out in the Labor government's own act of 2011 in part 3 of division 2, called 'Ownership and control of the NBN Co'? That part provides for the NBN to be privatised if and when:

(a) the Communications Minister has declared that, in his or her opinion, the national broadband network should be treated as built and fully operational;

(b) the Productivity Minister—

And, by the way, this government doesn't have one, which is just as well given it's the weakest productivity level in six decades.

… has caused to be tabled in both Houses of Parliament a report of an inquiry by the Productivity Commission;

(c) the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Ownership of NBN Co—

News flash: that doesn't exist either.

… has examined the Productivity Commission's report;

(d) the Finance Minister has declared that, in his or her opinion, conditions are suitable for the entering into and carrying out of an NBN Co sale scheme …

Again, news flash for the Albanese government: while condition (a) has been completed, none of (b), (c) or (d) are either underway or even in contemplation by either side of government. There was no imminence to a sale. This is pure posturing—and mightily convenient financial posturing, if I may say so myself. You see, three months ago the NBN repaid the last tranche of public loan to the Commonwealth on 30 June. In its financial report of 13 August this year, the NBN announced:

The company refinanced the remaining balance of $5.5 billion relating to the $19.5 billion Commonwealth Government loan in full by 30 June 2024. NBN Co's capital strategy remains focused on funding network investments and maintaining a strong liquidity position.

So riddle me this: the Albanese government lets the company fully repay that loan to the Commonwealth, which it did by seeking more advantageous loan terms on the private market at the time, and in doing so the Albanese government boosts its budget coffers, reinforcing its ever-so-persistent, Liberal-light, 'we're so responsible with the budget' rhetoric, and then, money in the bank, declares the NBN will always be in public ownership.

Thanks, NBN, for repaying the debt, but if you don't mind, we'll just keep the title deeds. What an absurd, indulgent, 'Look, an eagle,' tactic from this lot.

I knew these guys were in trouble politically, but this desperate move shows you just how deep that trouble is. At 8.59 am on 9 October, when the minister ran into introduce this bill, no-one was talking about privatisation at the NBN. It has been a long-standing option—an eventual plan—one for which the NBN had been carefully, diligently and responsibly managed to keep that option open, ensuring it was run efficiently and effectively with the best of private sector know-how in its leadership and board ranks to ensure the best use of this public investment in a dynamic and constantly changing telecommunications market.

This was a Labor Party plan and, in 2010, the then Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, issued a press release which said:

Senator Conroy said the Gillard Government remained firmly committed to selling its stake in NBN Co after the network was fully built and operational, subject to market conditions and security considerations.

Labor then put the sale provisions into the 2011 act.

When the Labor Party dreamt up the NBN back in the 2000s, it was a one-size-fits-all fibre to the node to each and every Australian home—no matter the distance, no matter the need and no matter the use case. When the Abbott government was elected in 2013, the NBN was a shambles, with less than 50,000 homes connected to the grid.

Today the NBN, thanks to coalition policy, provides a plethora of internet solutions to the best the places where they are suited. The multitechnology mix sees Australian homes and businesses served by fibre to the home or premises, fibre to the building, HFC, fibre to the curb, fibre to the node, fixed wireless, Sky Muster satellite, and shortly, LEO satellites.

As a result of coalition government policy, the NBN is largely complete, providing fast internet across this enormous nation—a territory larger than the USA and larger than the European Union landmass. Labor's record in the NBN is truly appalling and needs some exploration here. You might remember the original plan from that side of politics was for rolled-gold fibre to every single home, paid for by you, the Australian taxpayer. When the Abbott government was elected, there were barely 50,000 homes connected to this Rolls-Royce version of the NBN. Labor's plan was indulgent, expensive and illusory. When a full review was undertaken, after Labor lost the 2013 election, it was found their decadent plan was going to cost the Australian taxpayer $73 billion—back in 2013 figures.

The coalition government's review of the planned rollout was summed up beautifully by an AFR editorial in 2013:

Who would have thought? It turns out that a massive government-run telecommunications monopoly that was built from scratch and which aims to push other competitors out of the market is very expensive. As things stand, the grand monument dreamt up by the Rudd government's telecommunications minister Stephen Conroy will leave Australia with close to the highest broadband prices in the developed world.

That was the model we inherited. By the time the Albanese government was elected in May 2022, the build had been finished for two years, and more than eight million Australian homes were connected to the NBN.

On 9 October, the Prime Minister came into this chamber—breaking with all common practice—to give a speech about this bill. In it he said:

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam once said that his definition of equality was every child in Australia having a quiet room in which to study and a desk with a lamp to read by. That was in the 1970s. In 2024, every Australian child needs to be sitting at their desk with access to the NBN.

Gough Whitlam turned this country into an economic basket case. It seems the Prime Minister is determined to do the same.

See this speech in context