Coalition: Government will never privatise NBN

Opposition senators have questioned the Government’s sincerity in selling-off the NBN to the private sector

The Federal Government will back down on its promise to privatise the National Broadband Network (NBN) even after its completion, Coalition senators have claimed.

Initially, the Government had planned to split ownership of the NBN equally between the public and private sector. The plan was later changed so NBN Co, which is in charge of the network, would start off as 100 per cent Government owned and eventually sold-off.

The $36 billion fibre network has been tipped to be privatised within five years only after receiving approval from parliament. The NBN is due to be completed in seven years.

South Australian Liberal Senator, Simon Birmingham, has questioned the Government’s commitment to relinquishing control of the NBN to the private sector.

The NBN Companies Bill 2010 introduced to Parliament last year enables the making of regulations to “set limits on private control of NBN Co post-privatisation”.

The legislation, according to Birmingham, will make it harder to sell-off the NBN even under subsequent governments.

In a Senate enquiry report, the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee recommended the NBN Companies Bill to be passed.

“There is a real question whether the government truly believes [the NBN] should become private entity at any stage,” Senator Birmingham said - on behalf of the Coalition - at the Senate hearing today.

“We will pursue… to ensure limitations will be placed on future governments from dealing with this behemoth of an instrumentality that has been created are removed so we have the freedom and flexibility for future governments to do what needs to be done to fix the issue.”

Liberal Senator Mary Jo Fisher slammed the Government for allegedly hiding its intention to keep the NBN away from privatisation.

She was particularly critical of the process involved in making way for NBN Co’s privatisation. Relevant ministers will have to declare the NBN operations and the finance minister of the day must claim market conditions are suitable before any network sell-off.

“How long is a piece of string? How long is this fibre going to be [before it is] fully operational” Senator Fisher said at the hearing.

“Like I said, written in lemon juice, just iron it, the NBN under this Government is destined to never be sold.

“Why don’t [the Government] just fess up.”

Senator Fisher also lambasted the Government’s suggestion that if the NBN is privatised then it should be subjected to a Productivity Commission review.

The Government has repeatedly rejected calls from the Coalition to put the NBN up for a Productivity review.

“What hypocrisy from the Government when it continues to evade any decent level of scrutiny,” Senator Fisher said.

There have been many concerns raised over the eventual privatisation of the NBN. The Greens are concerned that handing the network over to the commercial sector would just be creating another Telstra.

Telstra has been blamed for the stifling competition in the broadband market by abusing its dominance of the wholesale services market.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) urged the Government to rethink NBN privatisation, arguing a private monopoly would be too politically powerful.

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More about: Bill, etwork, Federal Government, Productivity Commission, Telstra
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Comments

Melektaus

1

Great - I don't think it should be sold. Selling it just created another Telstra, circa mid-90's. No-one wants this.

CafSentryGnome

2

if they sell NBN co the NBN will never get any bigger. private companies will only expand into areas that will make profit so all those small country towns will never get decent internet access.

i live in a town where there is expanding aquaculture and mining industries, the town wont ever be huge so with out gov support there will never be fast reliable Internet there.

LC

3

NO NO NO...do not privatize, we may as well keep things as they are. The whole point of doing the NBN is to fix the monopoly telstra has on our lines and making australian consumers, both business and residential, suffer for years! Why this is even a consideration beats the hell outta me ?!?!

Emulate

4

The reason it is probably not a good idea to sell the NBN is the same reason that the private sector failed completely to come up with an acceptable response to the original NBN tender RFP:

They are not interested in USOs, true national coverage or equitable market access, they are interested solely in improving and maintaining an optimized bottom line.

They want guaranteed revenues and profit margins.

Revenues and profit margins are great, excellent and are the engine of the market, but not when they become the sole focus and manipulations take place.

As with Telstra. That was Telstra, and culminated with Sol and his gang of American banditos, brought in to carve up the market, destroy the competition, exert a complete monopoly, defeat the ACCC and Australian govt regulations, nobble Alston (sure got that one right...) and subsequent Ministers and defy the Australian people.

Committed USO disappeared, ACCC was ignored, Australians became milking cows, service levels and employment levels plummeted, resulting in a massacred Telstra share price, many poorer Telstra shareholders and very, very wealthy Sol and his crew of toe-cutters.

Oh, and some nice contracts to Indian call centres...

So, should we allow or advocate that again?

Obviously the Coalition would at the drop of a hat...

rational

5

@1 - I agree, the NBN fibre backbone, business and residential connectivity should not be sold, but services sold to all RSPs on a cost recovery basis only, by what is a Government Dept and on a not-for-profit basis.

I expect however NBN will end up outsourcing most of its functionality. including its NOC.

Francis Young`

6

Keeping the NBN public was recommended by the Senate Committee into the NBN in early 2010, the majority of whose members were non-ALP senators. Specifically it recommended waiting until the NBN was substantially complete before deciding whether it should be sold.

Mary Jo Fisher is on a hiding to nothing with this.

The NBN is the third and best iteration of John Howard's 2004 vision for universal broadband to address market failure.

The undignified antics of the coalition around the NBN are doing them no good whatever, but are costing taxpayers real money directly and through delays to this critical infrastructure project.

Kevin

7

As usual the Libs are so far off track with real public opinion, opting for that of the HR Nicholls Society.
History has shown time after time that when control of essential services is handed over to private concerns it fails to work, costs more, is inefficient with an emphasis on profit not service.
Keep in the public's hands and assure an even playing field.

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