Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. I refer the minister to today’s statement by former ACCC Chairman Allan Fels that:

… the Government is playing with fire. By weakening Telstra, it may be killing the only foreseeable competitor to the NBN.

I ask the minister: is the real objective of the government’s attack on Telstra to create, via its NBN Co. and its $40,000-a-week CEO, a government owned monopoly of Australia’s fixed line network, rather than using its NBN to create another competitor for Telstra and choice for consumers?