Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is the first time that it has been my privilege to follow Senator Sterle. It is quite amusing to do so, because what we have just heard from Senator Sterle is the standard mantra that we hear from government speakers—members of a government that has been in search of a narrative and a purpose since it got elected just over a year ago. If it was the inflation genie 10 or 12 months ago, it is now about the global financial crisis. It is a government that is stunt driven and poll driven.

It is interesting that Senator Sterle referred to his concerns about unemployment, because the one thing that I will stand here and be very happy to have compared is the previous government measured against the current government on unemployment. If this government ever sees an unemployment figure with a three in front of it, I will not be the only one who will be amazed. I will be one of several hundred thousand Australians who will have a job despite this government having predicted, before it started talking about the global financial crisis, that jobs would be lost. The government talks about its mandate. It does have a mandate. It promised fiscal conservatism. It promised to keep a surplus. It promised to keep the economy growing strongly. I look forward to the government continuing to deliver on those promises over the coming 12 months.

I have risen this afternoon, in this take note debate, to particularly note the answer given by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy, to the question asked by Senator Minchin. In a very simple question, Senator Minchin asked the minister if he would commit to releasing the details of the tender for the National Broadband Network after the tenders close tomorrow. I note that is actually four months later than originally promised. Senator Conroy, through sophistry, tried to avoid answering this question by saying he would not make a statement. I want to refer to the words used by the Deputy Prime Minister in the other place yesterday:

We will go through that process, which is obviously subject to considerable legal requirements and considerable probity requirements, even if those things are not understood …

There were a few other comments which included:

The outcome of the tender round will be available and will be transparent for all members of the House later in the week.

Senator Minchin specifically referred to that. Senator Conroy said he would not make a statement. Senator Conroy also referred to probity advice. Senator Conroy did not outline what the probity advice said. I have not heard of probity advice that would actually say, as the minister said, that the tenderers themselves, the bidders, can make the announcement but the government, in receipt of the tenders after the tenders are closed—after the tenders have been finalised—cannot make that announcement. It is unheard of that we can say several billions of dollars of Australian taxpayers’ money can be spent while the people spending it, the government, refuse to commit to releasing the details of those tenders.

The Deputy Prime Minister said it was good enough, but today the minister said that it was not when he said he would not make a statement. That is clearly what the Deputy Prime Minister was referring to yesterday. If the minister actually has probity advice that says these details should not be released, I challenge the minister to table that probity advice to outline exactly what is said about the details of tenders not being able to be released.

This is only one step removed from that lame excuse used by state Labor governments—whose members have filled the ranks of this government—of ‘commercial-in-confidence’ when millions and millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money are being spent but the government will not release the information. The Deputy Prime Minister said that the information would be released but today the minister said it would not be and he relied on probity advice. So he should come forward and say what that probity advice said and why he cannot release it.

The truth is we know why this information will not be released, and it is the failure of this government’s broadband policy. The tenders are closing four months late. We do not have a regulatory framework. We do not have a pricing regime and we do not have a commitment that Australian consumers and homeowners, the users of residential broadband services, will not pay more to access this. Now they are telling us we cannot know the bidders. Well, this is a fine way to spend several billion dollars of taxpayers’ money! Despite this delay, which they announced themselves, and despite the commitment to start building this by the end of the year, they still scrapped the previous government’s OPEL program using WiMax technology that would have seen 750,000 households actually be able to access wireless broadband services. Those 750,000 households are still waiting. They would probably like to know where the billions of dollars are going to go if they ever get spent, so they can find out exactly when they are going to be able to access broadband services. It was interesting that the minister also referred to Baldrick and his cunning plans. If there ever were a successful cunning plan by Baldrick, it is like this minister’s broadband program, because, as we all know, its plans have come to nothing. This secret plan that the minister described is so secret that it does not exist. It is actually time to christen this ‘Broadband Watch’.