No NBN Co plan until December: Conroy

James Riley
Wednesday, 17 November 2010 15:30

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The NBN Company business case will not be made public until next month, despite mounting pressure from the Opposition and the Greens for the release of the document.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's office said Cabinet had yet to be briefed on the contents of the document, which outlines how the NBN Co will roll-out the National Broadband Network.

A spokeswoman for Senator Conroy said the Minister would make an announcement on its likely release date "shortly," but meanwhile needed time to review the document before briefing the Cabinet.

Senator Conroy has said once Cabinet has been briefed he would release as much of the 400 page document as possible, but said parts of the business case were commercial in confidence and would remain private.

Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam and South Australian Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham have put a motion to the Senate demanding that Senator Conroy the NBN Co business plan and the Government's formal response to the KPMG-McKinsey Implementation Study be tabled in the chamber by tommorrow. A vote on the motion is expected later today.

Addiing further pressure on Government top produce the documents is another motion, expected to be put forward by South Australian Liberal Mary Jo Fisher that calls for the tabling of a full version of the departmental advice to the incoming government with particular reference to the NBN Co's view of any recommendations made in the Implementation Study.

Senator Fisher is also seeking from the Minister any documentation related to the basis on which the early release sites for the National Broadband Network were chosen. She also wants Senator Conroy to release documentation related to the NBN Co's enterprise bargaining agreement with unions on wages for the the roll-out period.

Senator Fisher is expected to put the motion to the Senate tommorrow morning, and has asked that the documents requested by tabled by Monday.

Independent MP from New England Tony Windsor, whose vote was critical in the passage of the telecommunications reform legislation through the House of Representatives yesterday, last night told ABC television's Lateline that some Coalition tactics seemed aimed at only delaying the network rollout.

But while Mr Windsor said it was time to get on with building the NBN, he expressed hope thata Senator Conroy would release the NBN Co business plan ahead of the Senate's consideration of the telco reform bill.

"I am hopeful that the business plan will be out before the deliberations go through the Senate," Mr Windsor said.

"Everybody would like to see it. I am told there are very good results in it. I am told it's a live document right now - that it hasn't gone through the Cabinet - but I think it would be appropriate for people in the Parliament, they are the ones that actually paid for it, to actually have a look at it."

"It is really time that we moved away from the mistakes we made in the past in terms of the structural separation in Telstra and get on with it now and get this very important piece of infratsructure rolled out," Mr Windsor said.