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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer to the minister's comments this morning that the NBN Co. will be refunded $2 million paid to contractor Syntheo for workforce mobilisation following its handing back of the rollout in the Northern Territory. Given the failure by Syntheo to connect any premises during the volume rollout stage in South Australia, Western Australia or the Northern Territory, why is the NBN Co. getting back only 3.9 per cent of the $50.9 million already paid to Syntheo? What additional costs will NBN Co. face as a result of undertaking the construction themselves?