Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy is clearly embarrassed by the revelations in the NBN strategic review today. Reducing the price tag of the NBN is not only responsible; it is also the only way to credibly keep this project off the budget expenditure statement. Labor claimed its NBN was commercial and that they were building a valuable asset. The strategic review makes it clear that Labor's NBN was a commercial disaster. It is expected to deliver returns below the rate of inflation. If the project continued on the same Labor trajectory, it could not credibly be kept off budget. The strategic review exposes the Conrovian fantasy. Today the Conrovian NBN fantasy was exposed once and for all. (Time expired)