Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this motion. The consultancy report was created for the purpose of informing cabinet. It contains commercially confidential and potentially market-sensitive information provided by key participants in the telecommunications industry. The government undertook to engage with industry in good faith and on the understanding that the information they would provide the government via PricewaterhouseCoopers would be kept confidential. To disclose their confidential information in this way would be a flagrant breach of that understanding. Senators will understand that, when stakeholders on that basis provide information to the government, it would be unethical for the government to violate their confidence. The government has been transparent and open about the policy and legislative matters on this issue and is committed to ongoing engagement with all stakeholders.