Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why does the Prime Minister expect the parliament to approve the National Broadband Network without access to the business case which the government has but is refusing to release?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. In answer to it I would say that the government at an earlier stage, well earlier, released the implementation study. We have had the parliament considering the question of structural separation. The government’s intentions to build a National Broadband Network to transform our nation’s infrastructure, to make sure that we do not export jobs to countries like Korea, are well known. The National Broadband Network business case has been supplied to the government. It is more than 400 pages long and the government, as prudent and responsible managers, are now analysing the case in detail, running the fine-toothed comb through it, and that is absolutely appropriate when we are dealing with an infrastructure project of this size and this significance to the nation.

The business case will be released publicly in December, as the minister for communications has indicated. What I say to the Leader of the Opposition, though, is that he really should come clean about all of this and indicate that he is not at all interested in the business case. No matter how good the business case is, no matter whatever it says, he wants to demolish the NBN.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. In keeping with your admonition to the opposition about questions, that question fitted entirely within what you have asked the opposition to do. It was about the business case of the NBN, and this attack on the opposition leader is completely irrelevant to the question.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will relate her comments to the question directly.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about the role of the parliament and the NBN business case and I am answering that, Mr Speaker. I am making the simple point that in respect of the parliamentarians who are members of the coalition the business case is absolutely irrelevant to their decision-making because they are already determined to demolish the NBN. It does not matter how good it is for the nation, it does not matter what the business case says, they are all about a three-word slogan yet again: demolish the NBN. That is all that they are committed to. We are committed to delivering this transformative technology to the country. Meanwhile we see in the opposition that they are up to their 17th, 18th, 19th or 20th failed broadband policy. It is very interesting that on 27 October the member for Wentworth dropped to the Sydney Morning Herald as a story his new plan for CANco. Well, CANco has turned into CAN’Tco, because the opposition has not even bothered further releasing the policy. This is obviously speaking to a division in the opposition. The member for Wentworth believes in broadband, he wants to CANco. The Leader of the Opposition wants to demolish the NBN, he wants to CAN’Tco.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sturt is not assisting. The Prime Minister will come back to the question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As they just go through these very silly broadband policy iterations and sit divided on their front bench, we will be getting on with the job.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume her seat. I indicate that when there are many things going on, the less interjections the easier it is to intervene. One of the interventions was going to be that we got a bit generous with the clock and there may have been an extra minute because we did not flick it on, which others did not observe. The Leader of the Opposition.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My supplementary question is again to the Prime Minister in the light of her answer. Given that a bank would not lend a dollar for a project without first seeing a business case, how can the Prime Minister possibly expect this parliament to approve the biggest infrastructure project in Australia’s history without first seeing the business case?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again we see in the asking of this question the Leader of the Opposition revealed as a man who wakes up every day having not bothered to carry a conviction from yesterday with him. He has never found a conviction that could not be shed in the interests of political expediency. I can recall, and perhaps the Leader of the Opposition should recall, actions of the Howard government like devoting $10 billion to a water plan. What is very interesting about this comparison is that the Leader of the Opposition says people always do cost-benefit analyses; they always go to the Productivity Commission. His very own shadow minister for broadband, the member for Wentworth, who was the responsible minister at the time, was asked about subjecting that $10 billion to a cost-benefit analysis and the member for Wentworth said, ‘Well, it was not subject to a cost-benefit analysis by the Productivity Commission but there was a lot of analysis done and we published it at the time and defended it.’

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why don’t you release yours?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So let us not have this cant, this is hypocrisy, this forgetting of the past, from an opposition that wouldn’t know what the national interest was if it stumbled over it.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Simpkins interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Cowan is warned!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition in all of this questioning is working on its political interest, which it has defined as wrecking everything in the national interest, including the National Broadband Network, reducing politics to three-word slogans like ‘Demolish the NBN’. We will continue to deliver in the national interest, and the National Broadband Network is in this nation’s interest.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hope the ‘father of the House’ feels better getting things off his chest, but he will do it quietly and show an example.