George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, my question is directed to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. I refer to the 36-page summary of the NBN Co. business case released by the government yesterday. If it is possible to prepare a detailed summary of the document, doesn’t that prove, if any further proof were necessary, that the claim that the commercially confidential information in the document could not have been identified and redacted to enable the release of the full document before parliament rises is a lie?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brandis for his ungracious question. NBN Co. has finalised its three-year corporate plan and its 30-year business plan. The company submitted the plan to the government on 8 November 2010. The government is committed to releasing as much information as possible from the business case and released a summary of the business case on 24 November 2010.

As the Prime Minister said yesterday, the summary was released to facilitate the passing of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010, which facilitates the structural separation of Telstra. Following a series of detailed discussions with the Independent senators, the government determined that it was possible to publicly release this material from NBN Co.’s business case in order to answer some of their key questions. The government has been very careful to ensure that the released material does not cause any market uncertainty and that the material does not relate to matters which are under cabinet consideration. As the Prime Minister has made clear, NBN Co.’s business plan will be released in December. The business case summary includes material on capital and operational expenditure, government equity investments, products to be released to consumers, the basis for the pricing of NBN Co.’s products and NBN Co.’s risk management. The summary expands on the information in the letter we received from NBN Co. on 19 November. It confirms that the NBN will be built on a financially viable basis with affordable prices for consumers. (Time expired)

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I note that the ground put forward by the minister for not releasing the full document before parliament rises is no longer ‘commercial in confidence’ but ‘consideration by cabinet’. Since the business case has obviously already been the subject of detailed and close analysis by the government, does the minister still maintain the fiction, 16 days after its delivery, that a redacted form of the full document cannot now be released? What interest is the minister protecting—the public interest, or his own collapsing career?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The business case confirms that prices will decrease over time as the markets become more competitive and more customers join the network.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, resume your seat. I remind senators that shouting across the chamber is disorderly.

Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McGauran interjecting—

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know I should not respond to interjections, but it is hard to ignore the smartest man in the building—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, just address the question.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the man who spent his own money keeping the DLP registered so they could feed him preferences so they could defeat him in the election! He spent his own money all the way up to the High Court.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: you directed the minister not to continue in that vein. He deliberately ignored you and continued his unseemly attack on a senator opposite, which is completely and utterly irrelevant. I would ask you to draw his attention to the question and ask him to desist.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, I drew your attention to the need to answer the question and not stray into other matters.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I apologise. As I said, the business case confirms that prices will decrease over time as the markets become more competitive and more customers join the network. It confirms that NBN Co. will receive a rate of return higher than the long-term bond rates. (Time expired)

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. If the minister cannot be honest with the Australian parliament about the cost of the single largest project in Australian history—and he has just represented to the Senate content from the document which it does not in fact say—how can he be expected to maintain the confidence of the public and of the markets?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, the business case says many important and detailed things. It confirms that the NBN Co. will receive a rate of return higher than the long-term bond rate. This means that the NBN is a sound investment, even before taking into account any productivity, economic or social benefits.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: Senator Conroy says it reduces prices over time; in fact, that excludes the basic service offering—and that is on page 21.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Joyce, that is a debating point; it is not a point of order.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But he is misleading us.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The financially illiterate on the other side clearly do not understand the difference between nominal prices and real prices. Let me be very clear: real prices, at least for the base product, will go down; and nominal prices will fall, over time, for the entire product range. I cannot help the fact that those opposite are economically illiterate. (Time expired)