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

Thank you, Senator Bushby—stifling innovation. On the one hand they stand here and say, ‘You can’t create a monopoly; it’s evil to create a wholesale-only monopoly,’ but on the other hand they say, ‘You should not be building this white elephant because wireless is taking over the world.’ If wireless is taking over the world, then the fixed lines cannot be a monopoly. You cannot actually make the argument: wireless is there so we do not need the NBN but this is such a dangerous thing that we are creating an evil monopoly. These are contradictory arguments.

Do not try the Senator Joyce tactic of this morning of trying to pretend that the ACCC are not involved in this deal. They are at the centre of it. They are giving advice on it all along the way. The deal between Telstra and the NBN—the reference that Senator Joyce keeps making—has nothing to do with the substance of the bill. The bill is enacting consumer protections. The deal referred to by Senator Joyce, when he mentions the NBN, is the deal between Telstra and the NBN. Do not try to pretend otherwise, as Senator Joyce was caught trying to do on national television this morning. Senator Joyce was thrown badly this morning.