George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, if the next generation of Australian submarines is so critical to Australia's defence—as it is—then why did the government of which you were a member do nothing about it for six years? If a competitive tender process is so important, then why did you, as the minister responsible for the NBN—which was the biggest public expenditure on a project in Australian history—not allow a public tender process for the NBN? If a public tender process is so important, Senator Conroy, why did you interfere with what you yourself described as the 'corrupted' tender process for the Australia Network and set aside the choice of Sky, which had been adopted by the umpires, not once but twice, and substitute the ABC? So, Senator Conroy, when you speak about the importance of Australia's next generation of submarines, when you talk about the importance of a competitive tender process then, as always with the Labor Party, don't worry about what they say; just look at what they did—