Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I must say it is quite extraordinary that we should be standing here today taking note of NBN again. Since we changed government in 2013, I cannot think how many times we have discussed the NBN. It always seems that, if Senator Conroy continues to bring these things up in question time and we take note of them, he can defend the legacy he left us, which was the NBN at the time. I notice that today's questions seem to be largely around a media story this morning about some leaked documentation that made its way into the media. Senator Conroy might well remember the Melton trial site leaked document. Once again we have exactly the same situation, where the documents are always the ones that have not been verified—they have not been peer reviewed.

Senator Conroy interjecting—

Unfortunately, Senator Conroy seems to think that, if he can find a scrap piece of paper in the rubbish bin, it can be turned around to be a factual claim about what is going on. It is really quite distressing. Senator Fifield put on the record in question time today that the NBN is on track to meet its targets for the financial year—within budget as set out in the company's corporate plan—and any suggestion to the contrary is just wrong. Who is correct here—Senator Conroy who appears to think that scavenging through rubbish bins and finding pieces of information is more credible than the information that is put on the public record—