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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given the substantial price increases that will accompany the introduction of the National Broadband Network and the Prime Minister’s inability so far in question time to justify or explain these price increases, again I ask: why won’t she release the NBN business case that she has and is hiding before she expects the parliament to vote on this $43 billion project?

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

To the Leader of the Opposition I would say: just because you make something up does not make it true. Your contention about pricing is wrong. Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition: I understand, coming from across the political divide, he may not want to take advice from us, but perhaps at some point he should talk to people with expertise in this industry. I refer him, for example, to Paul O’Sullivan, the Optus CEO, who says—and it goes directly to the question of price:

Optus is supportive of the government’s bold plans to create a single wholesale network which will bring high-speed broadband, cheaper pricing and choice to all 22 million Australians.

The Optus CEO—would he know something about pricing in telecommunications? He goes on:

I would urge all sides in this debate now to rise above politics and do what it takes to ensure that all Australian consumers and businesses can benefit from real competition in fixed line for the first time.

The Leader of the Opposition may have been misadvised. He may have got these erroneous facts into his head. It is time for him now to actually do some patient work and to look at the National Broadband Network, to look at what experts are saying about it, to look at the fact that Australians pay high prices for broadband and to look at the fact that the industry is telling us—and the Tasmanian example bears it out—that by creating a model with retail price competition you get cheaper prices, because that is what competition is all about. Surely the man who is the CEO of Optus would know something about price competition, and that is what he has said. Of course, I could refer the Leader of the Opposition to many others in the industry who have made comparable statements about the National Broadband Network.

The premise of the Leader of the Opposition’s question is wrong. Consequently, the conclusion he is seeking to found on that premise is wrong. He is acting to deny the benefits of competition in telecommunications. I always thought—

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The question that the Leader of the Opposition asked was: why won’t the Prime Minister release the NBN business case?

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

It may be a good point, but those that have been here a long time might remind the member for Hasluck that the questions have always been taken in toto. If things are mentioned in the question and the minister is being directly relevant to those things in the question, that would suffice, given plenty of the advice I get from people who read Practice to me. Even though I hoped it would be well rewritten, I am now losing faith that it will be.

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

When I am asked a question the premise of which is wrong, I will correct that premise because the House should not be left under any misapprehension. The Leader of the Opposition is not telling the House factual information. I would have thought that it was axiomatic that people who join the Liberal Party believe in competition and the benefits of competition. It would truly turn the founders of the Liberal Party in their graves to see what an ideological shambles the Liberal Party is in the modern age and how determined it is to wreck rather than serve the national interest.