Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I also stand to note the Auditor-General’s report into the National Broadband Network tender service. As a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts and Audit, I know the amount of time and effort that the Auditor-General and his office put into such a report. It is very thorough indeed.

Sadly, it is a damning report of the federal Labor government and it highlights the waste, inefficiency and mismanagement of the Rudd Labor government in the running of our economy and, specifically, in the establishment of this National Broadband Network. Senator Minchin has made those views very clear and I stand by them 100 per cent. It is a great shame and the only thing that we can hope is that the Rudd Labor government learns the lessons that are set out in this report for them.

Members of the public will be shocked to know that $30 million of taxpayers’ money has been wasted in this tender process, and that it has achieved absolutely nothing. Departmental costs alone were in the order of $17 million according to the report and there is nothing that describes it better than to say that it is a debacle. It is an absolute debacle and a very costly one to the taxpayer who has got absolutely nothing out of it. The process failed. Indeed, as Senator Minchin noted, the minister knew that the process was failing many, many months before the conclusion of the tender process. Who knows how many lawyers and legal opinions were obtained during the process to try to ascertain exactly whether the whole thing was a debacle and not going to work? Who knows exactly the costs incurred by the Rudd Labor government in obtaining legal opinion to tell it that it was a flawed process? What we do know about the Rudd Labor government is that it is a government of waste, inefficiency and mismanagement.

What we have learned today—this revelation in the Auditor-General’s report confirming and highlighting the $30 million cost—is on the back of what has now been confirmed in answer to a question earlier this week, that the cost of the federal government and its representatives flying to Copenhagen was $1.5 million for the Copenhagen conference. That is on the top of record legal fees paid by the Rudd Labor government when they had promised to reduce legal fees. In fact they promised to reduce legal fees by $15 million and those fees have now gone up now to $555 million for the last financial year. So these revelations are coming out not only month after month; it seems to be week after week and day after day. Surely, they should learn the lesson that the waste and mismanagement have got to stop.

The NBN rollout is occurring in Tasmania, yes, and it is in that regard that I want to speak to those matters. The fact is that in Tasmania, in terms of the NBN rollout there was no business plan. This is set out in the Senate report produced by a committee which was very well chaired by Senator Mary Jo Fisher over many months, a very comprehensive report. The Senate report released just before Christmas confirmed that in terms of the NBN rollout in Tasmania there is still no business plan.

What we do know is what is on the public record in newspapers to say that the estimate of the cost of that rollout is some $700 million. The government will not say if that is true or not. They will not answer the question. I have asked questions of Senator Conroy in this place about the rollout of the NBN in Tasmania, the cost and who is actually paying. Specifically, with respect to the federal government or the state government of Tasmania I have asked who is paying and how much. These are the questions that the government simply will not answer. Why don’t they know? Surely they know exactly how much. We are talking about taxpayers’ money.

There is a lesson in this report that has been tabled today about $30 million having been totally lost to the taxpayer. It has gone down the gurgler into a big black hole somewhere in Canberra. In terms of the rollout in Tasmania, is that waste and mismanagement going to happen again? We do not want it to happen because Tasmania is lagging behind broadband services across the country. We want better broadband and communication services to be delivered, but if they are going to be delivered we want them delivered right and properly without the waste and mismanagement that this government is up to its neck in. In Tasmania there is no business plan—that was set out in the Senate report—and we do not know what proportion of the $700 million investment is allocated and coming from the federal government or the state government. Neither government will say. The users do not know what the costs will be for the use of that broadband service. Surely they should know, whether they be residents or small businesses, so give them a break. What is the take-up rate? These are fundamental issues.

I noticed that Senator Lundy referred to, and complimented the government on, the rollout in Tasmania, but those opposite do not even know what the costs will be to the users and what the cost of the take-up will be. They say that the rollout will be commencing in July this year. Goodness, that is already a delay of a year. Remember the Prime Minister and Senator Conroy, amid much fanfare, getting with Premier Bartlett all those headlines saying it was rolling out from July of last year? Now those opposite are complimenting the government on the rollout to be in July this year. That is a one-year delay. Why don’t you just acknowledge it and say that you are ashamed and disappointed as there have been mistakes and that the rollout will commence from 1 July this year? It would be good if there were some truth in this in terms of getting the facts on the table, so say there has been a one-year delay. We are desperate for broadband services—we want this done and we want it done right. But the waste and mismanagement with respect to the rollout of the NBN, not just across the country but specifically in Tasmania, has been something shocking.

In Tasmania there are a lot of questions as to consultation. It appears that local governments have not been properly consulted. I wrote to them all last year and some of the feedback I got was not complimentary of the government. Certainly towards the end of last year there had been little to no consultation. Business and individuals in Tasmania want to know more and they want to know that fast, because they want to benefit from the rollout of broadband in Tasmania. There have been some seminars recently and I commend the business community for their leadership in trying to get something happening in that regard and working with the governments, federal and state, to get information on the ground so that they can benefit from the broadband service when it is rolled out. But surely with all that money being expended there has got to be a business plan, so, please, could it be revealed and could it be laid out. Please learn the lesson from this Auditor-General’s report that has been released today and is now on the public record confirming the $30 million waste. I hope the government learn from this. I commend the report and I thank the Auditor-General and his office for this work.

Question agreed to.