Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Can I just say that I think that the NBN is a fantastic infrastructure project and I think that the majority of Australians think that it is a great project. What I find extraordinarily disappointing in the questions that were asked today and in the contribution that we just heard from Senator Singh is that, for some strange and wondrous reason, despite the fact that the Labor Party when they were in government were the architects of the original idea of the NBN, they are now in the process of trying to tear it down. I would have thought that two years on from the change of government, with the rollout of the NBN starting to accelerate—we are starting to see some real results out there, with over a million people able to get access to the NBN, with the first satellite going up last week, which covers an area that is very close to my heart: the rural and regional areas of Australia—they would actually be starting to look at some of the more positive aspects of it and they would be starting to prosecute the best and most cost-effective way of delivering the NBN into the future. But, no, no, no; they are still sitting here two years after this government was elected and they are still trying to defend a legacy of the previous Minister for Communications; they are still here trying to defend the indefensible. It is very disappointing because, as I said, I am a great supporter of the NBN. I know that many people who live in South Australia are looking forward to being able to get access to the NBN—and yet it seems that all the opposition want to do here is to drag down what I think is a fabulous infrastructure project.

The issue on which those opposite were questioning today was in relation to a letter sent by the shareholder ministers to the nbn co asking them if they would undertake a comparison of the different technologies that are proposed for the NBN. As we know, when the coalition came into government, it was realised that there was a shortfall in the budget and something needed to be done about making sure that the NBN was affordable and could be delivered on time. For those opposite to stand here today and to make comments like 'cooked up', 'fictitious costs', 'politically motivated', 'counterfactual', 'distorted'—where are the facts? Where is the evidence to substantiate these comments? It is absolutely outrageous.