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

The reaction to yesterday’s announcement has been overwhelmingly positive. For example, Steve Dalby, the General Manager of Regulatory Affairs for iiNet, one of Telstra’s competitors, said: ‘For the community to get access to higher speeds, it needed the entire industry to be part of it. It is great news.’ Matt Healy, head of regulatory and government affairs at Macquarie Telecom, said:

The removal of uncertainty in the sector is going to benefit all parties and Macquarie welcomes the day when we compete with Telstra on the NBN where their only advantage is their size and not their monopoly power; the field of battle is purely on servicing customers.

This support contrasts with the continued negative opposition from Tony Abbott and the Liberals. (Time expired)