Minchin: NBNco a "gravy train" for Rudd's mates
- 16 November, 2009 11:31
- Comments 14
Shadow broadband Minister, Senator Nick Minchin, has lashed out at the Government’s recent NBNco appointments, claiming the organisation is a “dumping ground” for Labor supporters and ex-party staffers.
The accusation comes after chief of staff for Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, Mike Kaiser, was named principal of Government relations and external affairs for NBNco. The company was established to deliver the $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN).
Minchin said recruiting Kaiser, along with Federal Labor staffer, Jody Fassina, on the board of the Tasmanian NBNco in August, was “highly provocative” and “raises serious questions”.
In a press release, Minchin highlighted Kaiser’s past resignation as a Queensland MP in 2001 after the Shepherdson Inquiry into electoral fraud. He further insinuated Fassina secured the job as a result of her friendship with broadband Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy.
Minchin, a staunch critic of the NBN, is demanding an explanation from the Government.
“These blatantly provocative appointments demonstrate that the Rudd Government has no qualms about using its ill-conceived $43 billion NBN project as a vehicle to reward Labor mates at the expense of taxpayers,” he said in a statement. “The Rudd Government must cease using the NBNco as a taxpayer-funded gravy train for Labor mates.
“It must also stop its reckless NBN spending, which is extraordinary considering the project’s $25 million implementation study is still months from completion.”
A spokesperson for Senator Conroy has refuted Minchin's claims.
“NBNco has made an independent merit-based decision to employ Mike Kaiser as an external affairs and public policy specialist," the spokesperson said. "The company is responsible for its own recruitment activities."
Kaiser’s appointment was announced on November 13 along with former AAPT consultant and British Telecom technology division manager, Claire Rawlins, as NBNco CIO.
“Both Kaiser and Rawkins bring a depth of functional experience to NBNco as the company continues to design and build a very large and very complex engineering project,” NBNco CEO, Mike Quigley, said in a statement.
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Comments
The Missus is always correct
Awww, no gravy for Minchin? Stop whinging
TuffGuy
Gravy Train
Using his own methodology it would be safe to say the Liberal Party and politics is a gravy train for the likes of Minchin. He has no productive impact on anything and all he ever does is criticise anyone who tries to achieve something, merely because he cannot achieve it himself. Like the NBN in particular, Howard (and Minchin) sat on it and dithered around for over a decade and achieved nothing. As soon as KRudd tries to do something about it he whinges. Minchin also ignores the massive issues created by Howard as a result of selling Telstra as a monopoly. Minchin needs to remove his snout from the trough and disappear into oblivion where he belongs.
harry
And this is the guy who voted to privatize Telstra.
Michael Saunders
NBN Waste of money
He isn't whinging. He is speaking the truth.
The NBN should not be built it is not required.
Tom McHenry
Yeah, and close the national highways, infact all the roads close the phones down and water and power, we don't need them.
And truth is a prostitute. (not mine)
KZ
Were getting tired of your Whinging, Mr. Minchin.
Please stop whinging, and do something productive as shadow minister, in which you help can bring a world class service to Australia. The merits of the NBN should not even be an issue, as any individual in the IT field will tell you that this is a big step forward, and it must be done, or else Australia can fall further behind the rest of the world.
shramiac
Minchin is right! Kaiser is pure scum! King of the backdoor/brown paper bag deals while working for former Labor Premiers Goss and Beattie. He should have gone to gaol for the stuff he did! And why do we need this NBN? Can't you city folk get porn & illegal music/movie downloads fast enough now? By all means put it into schools and hospitals but the average person doesn't need it!
Bill
Hiding their real intentions?
I thought the Rudd Government was only appointing ex Coalition Government MPs to Government jobs. Obviously all those appointments were just an elaborate smokescreen to hide their intentions to stack the NBN with Labor people!
God Minchin is a jackass.
Unbiased
So you anti-Liberals don't deny it?
So far all the comments against Senator Minchin is detracting from the main topic about Labor appointing their cronies to NBNCo.
Comments such as -
1) Minchin can't do anything and all he does is criticise -> Well isn't that usually the job of shadow ministers to question and critique their counterpart in Government? Even if he has productive ideas, the Government would easily vote in down with lower-house majority numebers.
2) No gravy for Minchin -> so you're implictly agreeing that Labor is using it as gravy train and somehow condoning Labor, yet hypocritically condemn the Liberals instead?
3) Minchin voted to privatise Telstra -> yeah so what? Whether Telstra got privatised or not, we would still be in this NBN mess.
Don Johns
NBN not required? ADSL also not required?
Interesting...
Funny how some people have now decided that in the technology development of Australia, today is the day to stop...
The same people who said stop when some hare-brained vendors proposed 28Kbps dial-up speeds? (never need them!!)
Perhaps the same visionairies who said USB was a waste of money, as was ISDN, as was DSL, as was fibre, as was the wheel, as was the car, as was the laptop, as was the PC, as was blogs and online forums, as was medicine, as was women's rights, as was habeus corpus, as was LCD screen technology, as was the national rail system, etc etc etc
Yep, we don't need an NBN, cos we luv being last in the modern Western commercial world.
Now if I could just find these people a nice snuggly cave to live in....
Don Johns
I do not deny that....
I do not deny that Minchin is playing politics and seeking to score political points, irrespective of and disregarding the good of the nation...
We could go back to Coonan, who has the technological horizon of a gnat with eye problems and the telecommunications depth of a wart under her foot...?
Axctually I thyink Minchin could be OK, but he is struggling to save the remaining shreds of a Lib Party who desperately yearn for the corridors of power again, and have a massive case of Whingeitis...
shramiac
Tranfering to adsl didn't cost $43 billion!!!!! Well $43 billion STARTING PRICE!!!
Anonymous
So apart from Kaiser's OZ-wide renown as being one of Labor's slickest and shadiest spin merchants, just what NBN job related qualifications does he actually bring to this task, to even attempt to justify, the absolutely obscene, level of his salary to be provided by the poor, long suffering, OZ taxpayers.??? It only leaves us all to even further despise these bloody politicians and to believe that this bloke must have an absolute bloody encyclopedia of dirt files on all of his 'Labor mates'...!!!
Anonymous
So apart from Kaiser being renown OZ-wide as one of Labor's slickest and shadiest spin merchants, just what 'real qualifications' does he bring to this NBN job that have any, actual, relevance, to the task, to even look like partly justifying, the absolutely obscene, level of salary to be paid to him, by the poor long suffering OZ taxpayers....??? It just leaves us all to hold politicians in even lower regard than anyone ever thought possible and to think that this bloke must have an absolute encyclopedia of dirt-files, on all of his 'Labor mates'
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