Senator RYAN (Victoria) (3:24 PM) —In the previous contribution on the motion to take note of answers given at question time, Senator Hutchins tried to talk about the government having a big picture. The only big picture this government has is the big picture of the debt it is going to bequeath future Australians. The coalition is quite proud to stand between this government and the reckless abuse of taxpayer funds of present and future Australians. This government has come up with excuse after excuse to hide from scrutiny. I remember when a few billion dollars was a lot of money and would have been subjected to rigorous public analysis and debate, but this government tries to do everything it can to hide $43 billion of public funds from any meaningful debate in the community or in this place. It does not want a detailed analysis undertaken of the costs and the benefits of this reckless and outrageous project. It shows that, as this government flounders around, having lost its way, it is in desperate need of a purpose. It thinks it has found that purpose in the NBN. But, while this government has lost its way and is looking for a map, a map is no use unless you know where you want to go. This government does not know where it wants to take Australia and it has grasped the National Broadband Network as an excuse for an agenda because it does not have a bigger plan for Australia.
Let us consider the ludicrous situation this government currently finds itself in. It said it would not release the business plan and then it said it would. But it will only release the business plan in a redacted form after this parliament has voted on legislation that will commence the spending of $43 billion of taxpayers’ money and drastically increase Australia’s debt. It says there will be no Productivity Commission cost-benefit analysis. We undertake them for much smaller programs. It has been undertaken for the car industry, it has been undertaken for the textile, clothing and footwear industry and it has been undertaken on private and public health systems. The Productivity Commission undertakes detailed studies on a range of sectors of the Australian economy. What do we have today after the secret deal with the Greens? We have a government that says, ‘We won’t have a Productivity Commission cost-benefit analysis to test whether or not this is a worthwhile spend of taxpayers funds, but we will have one after we have built it, after we have spent the money, to determine whether it should be privatised.’ So the commitment from this government to ensure that the National Broadband Network would not remain in government hands has now been thrown out the window in yet another compromise with the Greens, who are running this government’s agenda.
Senator Conroy is playing Twister, for those of you who remember the game. The contortions of the government’s inconsistent positions are apparent as they seem to flick the Twister wheel on a daily basis in an attempt to stall, obfuscate and delay scrutiny in the vain hope that this parliament will pass the legislation that they desire. Let us consider the details. While we cannot have the cost-benefit analysis of the $43 billion government owned entity, the government backflip on the commitment to ensure that the National Broadband Network does not remain in government hands. We are supposed to believe that the government owned monopoly—which, in reality, will now never be privatised—will improve customer service and access. The truth is that Australians, particularly regional Australians, remember the record of government owned businesses and they know this is not something to aspire to. Just like the telecom of old, the National Broadband Network remaining in government hands will lead to union feather-bedding, higher costs for consumers, poor service and delays and massive losses for taxpayers.
Another farcical element of this government’s plan is the decommissioning and tearing up of functioning telecommunications networks in Australia: the copper network and the HFC network. There is no justification whatever to decommission those other than to force people onto the government monopoly provider—that is, the NBN. It embeds cross-subsidies that every Australian consumer will pay and they will not know the cost of this. The government expects us to believe that costs will not go up as people are forced onto the National Broadband Network, as the government legislation forces the decommissioning of fully depreciated HFC and copper networks—even though they are suitable for a great number of Australians. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy today in answer to questions asked of him by the opposition—rather than, as we have noted, by the government—said that the business plan is dependent upon reducing costs to consumers. Senator Conroy and the Gillard government: release it to the Senate today so that this Senate can have a fully informed debate on the costs that you are imposing on future taxpayers.