The Australian Greens have secured an agreement with the Government to subject the NBN Co to freedom of information laws.
Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam negotiated amendments to NBN Co's governance arrangements after raising concerns about the multi-billion dollar public company being exempt from the transparency rules.
"The NBN Co should be held to the same standards of transparency as any other government company," said Senator Ludlam. "We have negotiated with the Government and they have agreed NBN Co will be listed as a prescribed authority under the Freedom of Information Act."
Senator Ludlam said that while activities carried out by the NBN Co on a commercial basis would be subject to FOI, they could be exempted if the NBN Co successfully argued the material was commercial in confidence.
"Effectively this means NBN Co will be subject to the same level of transparency as Medibank and Australia Post and also provided the same level of protection for material that is genuinely commercially sensitive," he said.