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

Speaking to the annual report of NBN Co. Ltd should not take me long because, whilst an enormous amount of money has been thrown at this company, it has not started operating yet. It is employing people right, left and centre at huge salaries, but it really has not started work yet.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What sort of people are on big salaries?

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

I will get to that, Senator Ronaldson—I will take your interjection in a little while. NBN Co. Ltd is going to be spending $43 billion, not of Kevin Rudd’s money—although I believe he is wealthy enough probably to pay for it himself—but of taxpayers’ money. A CEO has been appointed and we know he is a very qualified man; he is on a very big salary. He is being paid at the moment although the company has not started operations. Why has it not started operations? Because no cost-benefit analysis was ever done and the government and NBN Co. Ltd are waiting for the implementation report before they can start work. Anyone with a modicum of business sense would have thought that you would do a cost-benefit analysis before starting the company and before starting employing staff at a salary of $1 million-plus. Wouldn’t you think that was important?

If you are not going to do a cost-benefit analysis perhaps you would do an implementation study and that is what the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Conroy—bless his little soul—in his very infinite wisdom has decided to do. Even though the implementation study may say the whole idea is ridiculous, it will not work and it is uneconomic, we do not actually know what it will say to say. Well, I suspect Senator Conroy might have an idea although it is supposedly an independent study, but we do not know how we are going to implement this $43 billion spending of taxpayers’ money because the report has not come out. But we are already employing the CEO, a very qualified man probably worth every penny of the upwards of $1 million we are paying him.

The other day I noticed that a bloke named Mr Mike Kaiser has been appointed as government relations officer—and this answers your question, Senator Ronaldson. Mike Kaiser, a very clever little fellow—so clever that he had to resign from the Queensland parliament. He was a Labor member of the Queensland parliament, has been around the higher echelons of the Queensland Labor Party for many years and is thought to be the architect of their electoral success—so why did he have to resign from the Queensland parliament? I will tell you, Senator Ronaldson. It was suggested—I do not make these accusations; I only repeat what I see in the papers—that he might have been involved in some electoral fraud.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about Lindsay?

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

The electorate of Lindsay? I am not familiar with the electorate of Lindsay. Do you mean Karen Ehrmann from Townsville and the then mayor Tony Mooney—who I hear is going to be running for Herbert, and it was suggested there was a bit of vote rigging going on there. Mayor Mooney, the Labor party mayor, was touted as being a future candidate. There are lots of rumours, but I never listen to rumours, I only repeat what is in the paper, but it was suggested that he might have been involved in a bit of vote rigging.. We know Karen Ehrmann was. She was a Labor councillor on Mr Mooney’s council and she actually went to jail, poor little Karen. She was the fall guy, or the fall lady I might say. But you directed me very successfully from Mr Mike Kaiser. Because members of the Labor Party in the Senate have distracted me I am afraid time is not going to let me go into Mr Mike Kaiser’s alleged vote rorting so I will have to seek leave to continue my remarks, lest anyone else should want to talk about it. If nobody does I will seek leave to continue my remarks and next time I speak we might be able to go into more detail on Mr Kaiser’s involvement in the NBN Co. Ltd. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned