Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure we would get an answer from Senator Lundy. You are quite right, Senator Birmingham. Many of us think Senator Lundy was unfairly overlooked for this important post of communications minister. I have a lot of disagreements with Senator Lundy, but I have to say that, as far as telecommunications is concerned, Senator Lundy has, for a long, long period of time, had a real interest in the subject. She actually knew something about it. Telstra pulled the wool over Senator Conroy's eyes when he was the shadow minister. He had no idea what he was doing and was desperately searching for a policy. Telstra saw their opportunity, with an inexperienced person who had no idea about telecommunications, to spin him a line. So he went to the 2007 election promising he could give everyone a very-high-speed broadband network around Australia for $4.7 billion. Remember that?