James Riley
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 22:45
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 3
With the support of the Greens, the Government has narrowly defeated a motion that would have further delayed any debate on the telecom reform bill until Communications Minister Stephen Conroy had tabled the $25 million implementation study in the national broadband network project.
But the Greens have put a price on its support, with West Australian Senator Scott Ludlam successfully moving a motion that requires Government to table the KPMG-McKinsey implementation study by next Wednesday - while still allowing the reform packge to be debated.
The move ratchets up the pressure on Senator Conroy to make the KPMG-McKinsey publicly available. Government needs the Greens' support to pass the reform package.
Opposition Leader in the Senate Nick Minchin had sought to move the earlier motion, which would have disallowed any debate on the bill until the KMPG-McKinsey study had been tabled. With the Greens and South Australian independent Nick Xenophon, the motion was defeated by a single vote.
In addition to structural reforms to the access regime of the telecom sector, the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2009 at the heart of the debate contains the punitive provisions that would punish Telstra if it is unable to come to terms in its negotiations with the NBN Company.
The Coalition vehemently opposed to any Government break-up of Telstra, which it says this legislation will do.
