A national database of suspected arsonists launched this week by Attorney-General Robert McClelland was heavy-handed and had been created without the most basic consultation with civil liberties groups, the nation's peak privacy lobby claims.

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has told a senate committee the national broadband network roll-out would make use of locally-produced product to the "maximum extent," dismissing analysis that Australian firms and Australian staff were being by-passed.

If Victoria was not given enough priority in the early stages of National Broadband Network construction, it was because of state government inaction in the tech sector, shadow technology minister Adem Somyurek says.