House debates Questions without Notice
National Broadband Network
Russell Broadbent McMillan, Liberal Party
2:57 pm
My question is to the Minister for Communications. What impact does the NBN have on the debt burden faced by the government? How have previous approaches to the NBN impacted on the budget?
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications
I thank the honourable member for his question. For six years the Labor government worked not towards the light on the hill but towards the great liability on the hill. That was their effort—six years towards that big liability. One of the major components of that was the delusion that the National Broadband Network would be a wonderful investment. Indeed, when it was first announced by Prime Minister Rudd, he said it was going to be so fantastic that mums and dads would be lining up to invest in it. You could just imagine the government bringing in the crowd control barriers and training the Australian Federal Police to link arms to hold back the hordes of anxious investors desperate to get their stake! But Prime Minister Rudd said, 'No, no; you can only have 49 per cent.' Well, that fantasy did not last very long.
But even as recently as the middle of last year, Senator Conroy and Senator Wong were out there claiming the project would generate a rate of return of seven per cent and they said—
Mark Dreyfus Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General
Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The minister knows that he is required by the standing orders to be directly relevant, and he has not yet even attempted to be directly relevant.
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
There is no point of order. The minister has the call.
Christopher Pyne Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education
Better not go back to the bar!
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications
Speaking of the bar, Education Minister, it reminds me again of the late Neville Wran's great line: 'Anyone can go to jail if they get the right lawyer.' We are constantly reminded of that every time the member for Isaacs gets up.
The Labor Party's NBN, had it been continued with, would have had a peak funding requirement of $73 billion—
Michelle Rowland Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications
Rubbish! You're a liar!
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications
which would have amounted to more than 10 per cent—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The member for Greenway is warned!
Government members: Withdraw!
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications
I would ask the honourable member to withdraw, Madam Speaker. I am wounded! She has offended the House!
Michelle Rowland Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications
I withdraw.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications
Thank you. I am feeling a bit better now, thank you, Madam Speaker. I am very sensitive!
Had the Labor Party stayed in office, within the decade we would have had $667 billion of debt—
Michelle Rowland Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications
Tell the truth! Try it!
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications
and more than 10 per cent of that would have been contributed by their misguided National Broadband Network project. So what are we doing? Well, we cannot recover most, if any, of the billions they have wasted to date, but what we can do is finish the project sooner, cheaper and more affordably. It will be cheaper for consumers and over $30 billion less expensive for taxpayers. The government is very much in the position of Mr Wolf in that great movie Pulp Fiction, cleaning up the mess—but the difference is that, in that movie, John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson helped cleaned up the mess they made and did not, like the Labor Party, get in the way of the clean-up.