Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Conroy as the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. Is the minister aware of the growing chorus of criticism directed at Labor’s National Broadband Network from people like Professor Paul Kerin, the OECD and internationally recognised experts in the field, such as Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim Helu and Japanese internet industry leader Masayoshi Son, who said that the NBN could be built by private enterprise without the government having to dip into its dwindling resources? Is the minister also aware that these experts believe that the estimated cost of $7,000 per household to provide broadband services is far too high and that the government should consider adopting a multiplatform approach? Minister, why is it that all of these experts are wrong and only you are right?