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

I just want to make a brief contribution. I could not let it pass that Senator Birmingham felt the need to point to what he believed was a hidden agenda for some of those involved in this debate, when all of us here know that the overwhelming number of senators opposite actually support this bill. They actually support the separation of Telstra. They have just been caught in a bit of a time warp. It was Senator Joyce’s stated public position at the Page Research Centre, where he was, apparently, with Senator Nash, at a National Party think tank. That is not an oxymoron. That document from the Page Research Centre was actually their own document. It was adopted by the Queensland National Party. I am not sure if the Liberal-National Party of Queensland has still got the same policy on its books, but it was the policy of the National Party at one stage before they sold out their principles. As for the Liberal right-wing economic rationalists, they could not but support this bill.

So I think, Senator Birmingham, that it might be a case of the pot calling the kettle black in this particular instance. But I am interested to see if there are any takers on an idea that we include an amendment in one of the NBN bills that those senators who vote in the chamber against the National Broadband Network voluntarily ask to be connected last to the National Broadband Network. Are there any takers? Can we get that up, Senator Xenophon?