Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State and Scrutiny of Government Waste) Share this | Hansard source

It is remarkable, Senator Eggleston. Not only is there no business plan and no business case but we now find, as indicated on the front page of the Australianand not denied by the minister—this:

THE Rudd government has backflipped on one of its key promises about the operation of the new national broadband network in an attempt to bolster the economic credentials of the massive $43 billion project and to enforce Telstra’s co-operation.

The draft legislation released yesterday reveals Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will have the discretion to allow NBN Co to effectively become a government-owned retailer of telecommunications services—

so a government-owned retailer of telecommunications services, not a wholesaler, as was promised! This is another backflip by a government that cannot help itself in relation to broken promises. It is the government of broken promises and it is the government of blah, blah, blah. (Time expired)