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

The market did not reject NBN's status. The NBN did seek indicative credit ratings as they indicated they would. So, based on all of the available information and advice we received, we decided that the best approach for the NBN to secure funding was for the Commonwealth to secure it and loan it to NBN. NBN could have secured financing in the markets—absolutely they could have secured funding on the markets—but we determined, looking at the options, that the best interests of the taxpayer were for the government to provide the loan to NBN.