Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. If I had a word of advice for Senator Conroy it would be: just let go! As I was saying, the three-year construction plan released by nbn will see more than nine million homes and businesses across Australia within the NBN footprint by 2018. As you would probably know, Mr President, this is in stark contrast to what was achieved by those opposite. In 2013, nbn had only managed to connect 50,000 users since the start of construction in 2011 and rollout targets were being continually set, missed, reset, revised downwards and then missed again. That was the pattern.

The need and the benefits of the multi-technology mix approach are clear. By using existing infrastructure, nbn can be in a position to complete the network by 2020 and at much, much less cost.