[LINK] NBN (still) an election football

[Jan Whitaker]

[in this period of the World Cup, it appears we 
have another football being booted down the field
[what do linkers think about this delay?]

Final NBN inquiry report not due till next election
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/government-it/final-nbn-inquiry-report-not-due-till-next-election-20140703-zstx1.html
Date
     July 3, 2014 - 2:18PM
Lia Timson

Australians are unlikely to see a full 
parliamentary assessment of the national 
broadband network until the eve of the next 
election, with more Senate committee hearings to 
come before a final evaluation of the infrastructure project is delivered.

The Senate committee on the NBN was due to table 
its final report on June 10. The date was 
subsequently changed to the “last sitting day of the 44th parliament”.

The decision extends the remit of the panel, 
which is made up of Coalition, Labor and Green senators.

Hearings will resume with two new members Labor 
senator Catryna Bilyk replacing Lin Thorp who 
retired and Liberal Cory Bernardi replacing Zed Seselja.
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The nexthearing will take place in Canberra on 
July 11 when the upper house committee is 
expected to call executives of NBN Co.

Should the promised cost-benefit analysis of the 
project not be delivered before then – it was due 
six months after an expert panel led by Michael 
Vertigan was appointed to the task by Minister 
for Communications Malcolm Turnbull on December 
12 – Fairfax Media understands the hearing will want to hear from the advisors.

It is understood Mr Turnbull’s office will 
receive the analysis by the end of July.

A further hearing is believed to be scheduled for 
August 4, with an interim report by the committee 
possibly in late August or early September.

It has already issued one interim report on March 
26. It was highly critical of the 
government-commissioned strategic review, saying 
it contained “unreliable assumptions and 
conclusions” and included “financial manipulations and other irregularities”.

Although the final report’s delay may have the 
effect of minimising ongoing discussion about the 
performance of NBN Co and the now 
mixed-technology network rollout, committee 
chairwoman Senator Kate Lundy said she was 
pleased the group’s tenure had been extended.

“It will allow the committee to scrutinise new 
information as it becomes public. It’s useful. It 
will help shine a light on the dealings of this 
government in the interest of transparency," she said.

Senator Lundy said people were concerned and 
frustrated about the government not being 
forthcoming with its NBN plans, with some in her 
ACT electorate delaying business decisions pending the network’s rollout.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said he expected the 
cost-benefit analysis to "do exactly what Malcolm 
Turnbull hopes it will do - a whole pile of 
mathematical formulations to justify the mixed-technology model".

The previous government had allocated $43 billion 
to build a fibre-to-the-premises broadband 
service to 93 of the Australian population, with 
the remainder delivered via fixed wireless and satellite.

The Abbott government changed the design of the 
network to take advantage of existing 
technologies such as pay TV cables (hybrid 
coaxial, or HFC) and copper lines to be combined 
with new fibre cables delivered to street 
cabinets or building basements. It said it would 
enable it to deliver a cheaper network sooner.

Its strategic review, delivered in December, 
looked at six scenarios and recommended the 
"optimised multi-technology" design at a cost of 
$41 billion. It estimated the original proposal would have cost $73 billion.

Since it came to office the Abbott government has 
tightly controlled the release of information, 
limiting it to NBN Co milestone and review announcements.

This week the company released an updated product 
roadmap, effectively pushing back the rollout of 
fibre-to-the-basement products to 2015, instead 
of the original forecast of October 2014.

Senator Lundy said her electorate found some 
plans were available, but there was not enough information in them.

“Canberra businesses and homes face uncertainty,” she said.

Senator Ludlam said he was looking forward to a 
"change of government in 2016" so the all-fibre 
NBN "could get back on track". He said the 
inquiry's extension was necessary for the 
committee to continue to provide oversight.

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1 comment so far

         Yup... definitely "faster"


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com

JL Whitaker
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