Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I am not suggesting at all, Minister, that NBN Co. will not manage to build it to some people. It is a question of whether that is the best way to do it. You have this blinkered approach that NBN Co. seems to be the only way. We believe that there is a better way especially with these greenfield sites and that for these greenfield sites you can maintain a level of competitive tension in the construction approach. That is all this amendment seeks to do, but it is important because it will preserve those businesses who have gone out there and done the things that you used to highlight and praise. Minister, you used to point to some of these businesses as shining of people who were delivering the type of technology that you are encouraging everyone to embrace. Yet, with this bill you will go down as the minister who pushed those businesses out of business as a result of the freebie that you are offering everyone, ultimately, with the NBN Co.