Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network, I present additional information received by the committee in its inquiry into the rollout of the national broadband network.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the additional information provided by the NBN Co to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network.

The committee received the responses from NBN Co last Wednesday, 24 March. The due date set by the committee, which I remind the Senate is chaired by the government, was Friday, 19 January—two months late again. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't happening every single time. NBN Co, the department of communications and Minister Fifield seem to be in absolutely no rush to answer questions about the NBN rollout. These are questions, I might add, that are of vital importance to the proper functioning of this place: questions relating to the disastrous HFC rollout; questions on faults, complaints and customer satisfaction; questions on deployment and on minimal achievable speeds.

Prime Minister Turnbull thought he would switch on the HFC network like he would a toaster. Even after breaking his 2013 election promise, Mr Turnbull, the then communications minister, promised to have 2.6 million homes on HFC by the end of 2016. He only got up to 160,000—seven per cent of his target. HFC was meant to be the great saviour across many of our mainland cities. Instead, we then saw leaked reports that NBN Co would dump the Optus HFC network. We then heard of HFC cost blowouts. Of course, NBN denied these leaks. But then, in September 2016, the now Prime Minister announced that the Optus HFC would be dumped and that the cost of the remaining HFC network had blown out by $2 billion.

The lack of transparency in relation to the NBN project displayed by the non-answers provided by NBN Co to many of these questions and by the ridiculous delay in even responding is disappointing and reflects a paranoia that has gripped the Turnbull government. On 14 November 2017 the Senate voted to order a special hearing of the NBN committee. This vote in the Senate appears to have triggered panic within NBN Co, as they were sitting on further secrets about the HFC network that were not in the public domain. We have now learnt that only days later NBN Co executives ambushed public officials and Minister Fifield with news that NBN Co would halt the HFC rollout due to reliability problems. The HFC delay could cost taxpayers up to $500 million, money that could have been spent delivering a better technology mix, pushing more fibre closer to people's homes and businesses.

The constant delays in these responses to parliamentary scrutiny are nothing short of an attempt to reduce accountability. Minister Fifield, the Department of Communications and the Arts and NBN Co need to lift their game. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted.