Conroy: don't be coy on Telstra proposal, says Minchin

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 14 December 2008 10:08

IT Industry - Strategy

Australia’s Shadow Minister for Communications, Senator Nick Minchin, sends the following message to the current Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy:

“Following presentations to the National Broadband Network (NBN) expert panel by proponents - scheduled this weekend - I call on Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to update the Australian public on the outcome.

“Telstra, which by its own admission submitted a non-compliant proposal, was afforded the same opportunity to make a presentation as the five other bidders. Considering there is $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ money at stake, Senator Conroy must now confirm whether
Telstra’s proposal has made the cut.

“Senator Conroy needs to also confirm whether or not the ACCC has received the proposals, to enable it to meet its deadline of providing crucial competition and regulatory advice to the panel on 7 January.

“The expert panel has been given until 21 January to make recommendations to the Minister and I would expect that advice to also be made public, with the opportunity for comment.

“Senator Conroy, who has a bad habit of breaking NBN deadlines, has also given himself ‘towards the end of March’ to sign a project contract, presumably in 2009. Considering the need to establish a regulatory framework, which will most likely require legislative change, I’d question just how realistic this latest deadline is.

“In his first media statement as Minister, Senator Conroy committed to holding an ‘open and transparent process’ and while it has been anything but, now is the time for him to start honouring that commitment.

“The future of telecommunications in Australia is simply too important to be decided by a Rudd Government motivated by its own short-term political interest, ahead of the national and consumer interest.

“This process should be conducted in public view, not hidden away, and the Australian public must be given the opportunity to scrutinise and comment on crucial advice before this Government makes any binding decisions on behalf of taxpayers,” concluded Senator Nick Minchin of the Federal Opposition.

Whether Senator Conroy proposes to respond in any shape or fashion is yet to be seen, although if Senator Minchin ever proposed to Senator Conroy, we can only presume Senator Conroy’s answer would be a firm “no”.