Turnbull launches renewed attack on NBN

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 07 December 2011 13:18

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has re-iterated the Federal Opposition's criticisms of the NBN, and added a few new ones, in a 3000 word essay posted on his blog.

Turnbull acknowledges that "our key criticisms are familiar" and turns his attention to "some other aspects of the NBN that have been canvassed in the public domain recently, and prompted red flags to be raised in some quarters: NBN Co's accountability and transparency; NBN Co's obsolete financial projections; rollout priorities, black spots and take-up.

Not surprisingly the Government's failure to release anything more than a heavily redacted version of the Greenhill Caliburn report comes in for particular criticism in the essay.

After the Australian obtained the redacted version and reported its estimate that NBN Co capex could top $50b by 2028, communications minister Stephen Conroy responded by saying: "It is a fallacy to suggest replacement costs and other capex is a part of the cost of the NBN."

According to Turnbull this is no fallacy at all. "I have bad news for the Senator: Capital spending on maintenance and network upgrades is part of the cost of the NBN, as it is part of the cost of any enduring piece of infrastructure," Turnbull said, adding "And what Greenhill Caliburn and NBN Co's own figures reveal is that 'replacement capex' after the initial network is connected amounts to over $100 per connected premise per year - roughly the same as maintenance costs on the current copper network. So much for 'future-proof' in terms of reducing upkeep costs."

According to Turnbull, "NBN Co projects a defensive and non-transparent approach which seems like a cross between the Kremlin and the Church of Scientology. The irony is that notwithstanding it belongs to the public, it is less accountable and less transparent to the taxpayers who ultimately own it than any of the publicly listed telcos to which it is currently dictating terms, with all of the inevitable arrogance of a massive government owned monopoly."

He has called on Conroy to "[answer] one simple question: what exactly is the latest estimate of the peak capital requirement for the NBN?"