Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My apologies, Mr President. On 16 July this year I announced with the Premier of Tasmania that we will establish a new company, TNBNco, to roll out and operate the National Broadband Network in Tasmania. TNBNco will be a subsidiary of NBNCo and will be jointly owned by NBNCo and Aurora Energy. On 25 July the Prime Minister announced Mr Doug Campbell would chair TNBNco. Mr Campbell has a wealth of experience in the telecommunications sector and I am very pleased he has agreed to take on this exciting challenge. The first stage rollout in Tasmania has already commenced. Aurora is conducting an open, competitive tender for fibre-optic cable. On 25 July the Prime Minister announced that nearly 5,000 premises in Smithton, Scottsdale and Midway Point would be the first to receive optical fibre broadband connections. Physical work will begin shortly. We will start digging trenches. (Time expired)