Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

No, I do not live at Kiama Downs. You come in here and talk about broadband, you talk about Kiama Downs and about other areas, but what it ultimately will come down to, Minister, is whether the taxpayers of Australia will get the accessible and affordable broadband that they deserve. How do we know? Quite frankly, your plan has not been put under proper scrutiny. The Australian taxpayers are going to have to fund this. Ultimately, if NBN Co. has financial problems it is going to be the Commonwealth of Australia and the taxpayers of Australia that are going to have to foot the bill.

People out there are now starting to understand that this really is a pup because, ultimately, it is not just $43 billion, not just $49 billion but a whole lot more billions of dollars. You mismanaged the pink batts and the school halls. Everything you have done you have mismanaged. This will be your legacy. In fact, it will be the most mismanaged program ever by a government. It will have your name on the epitaph, and that is exactly what is going to happen.

You are taking competition out of the market and you are selling the Australian public down the gurgler. You are inflicting on the Australian public a tax burden that you cannot even put your finger on. Weeks ago it was $43 billion and now it is $49 billion. You cannot even get your facts right. Why? Quite frankly, Minister, you do not know what you are doing. If you were so confident about how great this plan was, you would have put it out for much more public scrutiny. What are you afraid of?

You send off all sorts of things to the Productivity Commission. You have shunted off aged care to the Productivity Commission. You have not done anything about aged care, even though you said there are millions of Australians that are waiting. You shunted that off to the Productivity Commission because, even though you have had review upon review, you said you need a proper assessment of what is needed in aged care. What about this? This is almost $50 billion worth of spending and you are not going to send this off to the Productivity Commission. You are prepared to do other things that deserve scrutiny. Surely, what is going to be one of the largest infrastructure investments in this country deserves much more scrutiny. I appeal to the taxpayers of Australia to understand precisely what it is you are being sold, and it is a real pup.