Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has survived a gag order in the Senate that would have halted any consideration of NBN-related matters - and stopped the Minister even addressing the issue - until he tabled a series of documents related to the fibre roll-out.

South Australian balance of power senator Nick Xenophon remains a strong supporter of the Government telecommunications reform objectives – including provisions to structurally separate Telstra – and subject to a closer reading of the bill presented to Parliament yesterday will vote to approve its passage.

Victorian Family First senator Steve Fielding will meet separately with the government and Telstra early next week to discuss the National Broadband Network implementation study before finalising a position on the telecommunications reform legislation.

The Rudd Government's proposed telecommunications reform legislation has given Steve Fielding the opportunity to make a hero of himself in front of 1.4 million Telstra shareholders – by voting against it.

The Rudd Government's long-held plan to structurally reform the telecommunication sector is in jeopardy, with the legislative package likely to be narrowly rejected by the Senate.

The Federal Coalition will reject the Government's telecommunications reform bill when it is considered by the Senate as expected this week, calling the proposed legislation a deliberate assault on Telstra and its shareholders.

The telecommunications reform bill is listed for debate in the Senate on Thursday – the last day of the parliamentary sitting year – and despite seemingly impossible time constraints, Government remains confident that it will get to a vote.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will support a Senate inquiry into the use of commercial-in-confidence provisions by governments in a pledge to win support from the Greens for a motion ensuring the telecommunications reform will get debated this year.

The Senate has called on the market regulator to investigate whether the Future Fund was tipped off about impending regulatory changes in the communications sector just weeks before offloading huge numbers of Telstra shares.

Senator Steve Fielding had better move fast with his Bill aimed at preventing the transfer of personal information overseas, because demand for cloud computing in Australia seems unstoppable with two out of five organisations planning a move to the cloud.