• Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network

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07 September 2011There is a broad consensus in both the Parliament and the community on the importance of better ICT. A recent report by Deloitte Access Economics titled The Connected Continent: How the internet is transforming the Australian economy found that the direct contribution of the internet to the Australian economy “is set to increase by $20 billion over the next five years from $50 billion to roughly $70 billion.” The report estimates that approximately 80 000 more Australians will be employed in areas directly related to the internet as a result.

How to deliver better ICT is a hotly contested issue and one of the political divides of the moment. With this in mind, this committee has worked hard to focus on its parliamentary oversight responsibility of the rollout of the NBN, and to emphasise that it is not a “clearing house” for policy differences.

• Government commissioned NBN Implementation Study, dated 6 May 2010;
• NBN Co Corporate Plan 2010-2013, dated 17 December 2010; and
• Government‟s Statement of Expectations for NBN Co, dated 17 December 2010 (issued on behalf of the Government by the Shareholder Ministers, Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Finance and Deregulation).

In its next review period, the committee intends to pursue a number of issues raised in these foundation documents, including when and how private equity will be engaged in the wholesale platform.

Many Australians are under the misconception that NBN Co is building a Government-owned monopoly to own and run the wholesale platform at taxpayers‟ expense, indefinitely, with no return to the Government on its very large initial capital expenditure. This is an incorrect assessment of what the final product will look like, and what the true return to the taxpayer really is. The end product will, more than likely, be a privately-owned and operated wholesale platform, with a return on revenue through engagement with retail providers as the platform is built, and then the opportunity for a significant private sale once the NBN is complete.