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

I thank Senator Leyonhjelm for his question, his notice and his ongoing interest in the USO. The government does share the senator's concerns about the existing USO contract, which was put in place by the previous Labor government. This is why the coalition took immediate action on the recommendations of the 2015 Regional telecommunications review by tasking the Productivity Commission to conduct an inquiry into the USO.

The government tabled the PC's report on 19 June. I said at the time that a major review of the USO was long-overdue to ensure that significant taxpayer investment is achieving value for money and providing appropriate customer protections. The PC report found that the USO is anachronistic and costly and should be replaced by a new framework to reflect changing policy and market and technological realities. The report also said that the arrangements put in place by the previous Labor government suffer from a lack of transparency and accountability, which makes the continuation of current arrangements difficult to justify.

The Audit Office was equally critical of the contract, saying that it 'became the means through which the government was able to deliver sufficient financial benefit to Telstra to ultimately secure its involvement in the rollout of the NBN'. However, despite the contract's flaws, the USO does continue to ensure that every Australian can access a standard telephone service, regardless of where they live. This is an important protection for regional Australians. The government is taking a belt-and-braces approach to protecting the needs of people in regional Australia. We've introduced legislation to put new stronger safeguards in place before proposing any amendments to the existing USO. We have legislation before the parliament that will establish a statutory infrastructure provider obligation on NBN. Additionally, we have the Regional Broadband Scheme, which will provide a long-term funding mechanism for NBN's loss-making services.