Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

national broadband network companies amendment (commitment to public ownership) bill 2024

This Bill reaffirms the Australian Government's commitment to ongoing public ownership of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and to remove existing conditions that create a pathway to privatisation of this vital national infrastructure.

Introduction

The National Broadband Network Companies Amendment (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024 (the Bill) will amend the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011 (NBN Act) to recognise in legislation the Government's policy that NBN Co Limited (NBN Co), the company that operates the National Broadband Network (NBN), remains in public ownership. The Bill also makes minor consequential amendments to the NBN Act and to the Telecommunications Act 1997.

Context of the Bill

In December 2022, the Ministers for Finance and Communications, as joint Shareholder Ministers for NBN Co, issued an updated Statement of Expectations which confirms the Government policy to keep NBN Co in public hands for the foreseeable future, providing the company with the certainty needed to continue delivering improvements to the network while keeping prices affordable.

This Bill strengthens that commitment and makes it part of the legislative framework. This change will remove the existing legislative conditions which, if satisfied, enable privatisation of NBN Co.

The NBN is critical national infrastructure

The NBN was established by the Labor Government because of the failure of the former Coalition Government to foresee and plan for the digital transformation of the economy. The sale of Telstra by the Coalition sold out communities, particularly in rural and regional Australia, both in terms of critical infrastructure investment and service quality for consumers. Crucially, the Telstra sale also deprived the Government of strategic levers to drive the investment necessary for Australians to fully access reliable high speed broadband and the productivity and digital inclusion benefits that delivers.

That is why it remains vital that the ongoing mission and focus of the NBN to deliver affordable, accessible high speed broadband to all Australians, be guided by the public interest, rather than the commercial interests of a privileged few.

We will retain strong regulatory oversight of the pricing of NBN wholesale products by the ACCC.

And the Government will continue to act in the interests of regional communities to narrow the digital communications divide.

The NBN is Australia's digital backbone, carrying the majority of the download traffic for Australian households and the NBN also carries a significant proportion of voice traffic for consumers. It is critical for this national infrastructure to be reliable, resilient and secure. In a time of rising risks of cyber-security we will ensure that the NBN stays in the ownership of the Australian people.

The NBN reaches over 12.4 million premises across Australia. Currently, more than 8.6 million homes and businesses in Australia are connected to the NBN.

The Government has been making ongoing investment in the NBN to bring the benefits of high-speed broadband to more Australians. This Government support includes a commitment of $2.4 billion to replace the deteriorating copper network with fibre, which provides 90 per cent of Australians—around 10 million premises in the NBN fixed-line footprint—with access to faster and more reliable broadband.

This investment is already delivering benefits with increased reliability, fewer faults and access to higher speeds.

In addition, the Government and NBN Co are delivering a $750 million investment to upgrade services in the NBN fixed wireless network, which has flow on benefits to NBN satellite services. This investment has already delivered uplifted speeds on existing plans and has introduced new fixed wireless high-speed tiers, with wholesale peak download speeds that range from 200 megabits per second (Mbps) and up to 400 Mbps.

The upgrade has also enabled unlimited data to be introduced for NBN satellite plans with download speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

The NBN is vital nation-building infrastructure, essential to the wellbeing, safety and prosperity of Australians. An NBN that provides fast, reliable and affordable connectivity is critical to Australian households and businesses having access to key services to drive productivity growth,support digital inclusion and equitable access.

Keeping NBN Co in public hands is better for Australia

Keeping NBN Co in public hands will ensure the company has the certainty necessary for its investment planning and operational decisions needed to maximise the economic and social benefits of the NBN. This is in contrast to a privately owned NBN Co that would be focussed on maximising the profits of its owners and not have strong incentives to make the investments needed to keep prices affordable and connect Australians in regional and remote Australia, including First Nations communities.

There will be no conditions or stepping stones to privatisation

The NBN Act currently sets out conditions that once satisfied, would enable a future Government to initiate privatisation of the company. Once these conditions are met and a sale scheme completed, there would no longer be whole public ownership of NBN Co.

Since the Government has no intention to sell the NBN, there is no requirement for a legislative sale scheme. Other Government Business Enterprises, for example Australia Post, do not have provisions for sale in their enabling legislation.

This bill removes that pathway to privatisation and commits to keeping the NBN wholly owned by the Australian people. A new section 43A will be introduced in the NBN Act to make clear Parliament's intention that NBN Co would remain wholly-owned by the Commonwealth.

The Bill would not change the operation of the NBN

It is proposed that the Bill will commence on the day after the Royal Assent.

Importantly, the amendments proposed by the Bill are largely mechanical in nature and do not change the operations of the NBN. These are proportionate and balanced amendments consistent with the Government's policy to keep the NBN in public hands.

The proposed new statement of Parliamentary intent would, in recognition of the national significance and nationwide accessibility of the NBN, further reaffirm the importance of NBN Co remaining in public hands, and safeguard Australia's long term economic and security interests.

Conclusion

Through this Bill, the National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011 will be amended to remove conditions enabling a future Government to privatise NBN Co. These changes reinforce in legislation the Government's commitment.

The Bill provides certainty to stakeholders, including broadband consumers, the wider telecommunications industry, broadband retailers, and NBN Co, that the Commonwealth will continue to retain ownership of NBN Co. This certainty supports the Government commitment for NBN Co to provide high-speed and reliable broadband connectivity for Australians.

oversight legislation amendment (robodebt royal commission response and other measures) bill 2024

The Report of the Robodebt Royal Commission made it clear. Strong and effective oversight mechanisms are fundamental to safeguard the community in their dealings with government. Trust in government depends on this.

The Royal Commission concluded that the Robodebt scheme was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal.

Stronger scrutiny may have prevented the scheme's continuance.

But the Royal Commission found that institutional checks and balances that should have raised serious questions about the Robodebt scheme were ineffective. And, in some cases, these checks and balances were intentionally impeded.

The Government's response to the Royal Commission committed to improving public trust in government. It recognised the importance of impartial, independent and robust oversight to deliver on this commitment.

This Bill delivers on recommendations of the Robodebt Royal Commission. It will bolster the powers and capability of oversight agencies to ensure a failure like the Robodebt scheme can never happen again.

Because, central to the institutional checks and balances that could have made a difference to the outcomes of the Robodebt scheme, are independent and external oversight bodies.

Oversight makes our institutions stronger. Oversight makes our democracy better. And most importantly, oversight keeps government agencies accountable to the people they serve.

For these reasons, the Government is introducing amendments to the Ombudsman Act to ensure that Commonwealth agencies are subject to stronger and more rigorous oversight.

The Bill

This Bill recognises the importance of ensuring the Ombudsman has the necessary legislative powers to undertake full, independent and transparent investigations.

The Robodebt Royal Commission made two recommendations for legislative change to the Ombudsman Act.

First, that a statutory duty be imposed on departmental secretaries and agency heads to ensure their department or agency uses their best endeavours to assist the Ombudsman in an investigation. The Royal Commission also recommended a corresponding duty be imposed on the part of Commonwealth public servants.

The Bill implements this recommendation in full. But it goes further than this. The Bill extends the statutory duty to assist the Ombudsman to all of the Ombudsman's functions.

This means that agencies will be required to assist regardless of whether the Ombudsman is making preliminary inquiries, conducting an investigation, or following up on implementation of their recommendations.

In doing so, the Bill reinforces the responsibility of heads of agencies to ensure their agency acts in good faith and proactively assists the Ombudsman in the performance of all of their functions. By imposing this duty on the staff of agencies, the Bill also ensures the responsibility to assist the Ombudsman is clearly individually borne by all those in the public service.

The second recommendation for legislative change was that the Ombudsman be conferred with a power requiring Commonwealth agencies to provide all reasonable facilities and assistance to the Ombudsman when the Ombudsman exercises their power to access an agency's records.

Amendments in the Bill deliver on the full intent of this recommendation. The Bill ensures that the Ombudsman has strong powers to obtain full, free and direct access to agency records as part of an investigation.

To further enhance the Ombudsman's ability to access an agency's records, the Bill also specifically empowers the Ombudsman to obtain access to records remotely. These amendments ensure that the Ombudsman has a modern suite of effective information-gathering powers to keep agencies accountable.

While most agencies engage in good faith with the Ombudsman, the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission made it clear that the Ombudsman should not have to be reliant on this assumption.

The amendments made by the Bill will ensure that the Ombudsman does not need to depend on government agencies to undertake searches and provide documents and information in the course of an investigation.

The new and enhanced duties and powers in the Bill will be extended to apply in respect to all statutory offices of the Ombudsman under the Act, such as the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, Postal Industry Ombudsman and Overseas Students Ombudsman. This means that, whether they are dealing with Commonwealth agencies or other sectors such as private health, postal or education providers, the public can have confidence that the Ombudsman has effective oversight powers.

The Government also recognises the importance of the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman in providing assurance to the community that taxation laws are being administered with integrity. The Bill implements the commitment in the Government Response to the Robodebt Report to introduce equivalent amendments for the Inspector-General as for the Ombudsman.

Conclusion

Strong institutions are fundamental to the key mandate of government—meeting the needs of the community that it exists to serve.

The public must be confident that government agencies are acting with integrity and accountability. And that they act in a manner that is lawful, fair and transparent.

The Government has committed to improve this public trust.

This Bill bolsters the powers and capability of oversight bodies to ensure that government agencies are accountable.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 115(3), further consideration of these bills is now adjourned to the days on which the committees are required to present their reports on the bills.