Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for his deep interest in and knowledge of the Communications portfolio. I think everyone in this place knows that the NBN is the largest and most complex infrastructure project in Australian history. It is national in a very literal sense. It is extending down every street, spanning thousands of square kilometres through fixed wireless and beaming in from 36,000 kilometres overhead in some places. It does require a colossal amount of taxpayer funding, running into the tens of billions of dollars, and it will be 10 years in the making. Yet, when those opposite were embarking upon this venture, they cut every single corner they possibly could. They avoided a cost-benefit analysis. They abandoned normal cabinet process. And, when Senator Conroy, as minister, appointed a board, not one person on the board had telecommunications experience—not one out of eight.

While Senator Conroy was in charge he waited for more than a year after appointing the executive chairman to actually issue a statement of expectations to the company. Where this chaos and mismanagement really showed was in the financial and operational targets. By the time of the election the rollout was already years behind forecast. And, after receiving $6.5 billion in funding, less than three per cent of premises were passed, and there were only 50,000 users on the network. Unlike those opposite, this government has required the NBN to set realistic financial and operational targets, and the company's most recent quarterly results prove that point.