The Australian Greens say they won't be giving the Government a blank cheque in the Senate for its multibillion dollar broadband plan but will carefully scrutinise the proposal as more details become available.
"It is good to see the Minister coming on board with Greens demands for public ownership, but the existence of a potential trigger for privatisation is a real concern."
"Given the magnitude of public spending, we will be looking at the details very carefully, before deciding whether or not to support it in the Senate," said the Greens Communications Spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam.
"We're concerned that the Government is using tax-payer money to roll-out the Broadband Network and then planning on selling it back to the private sector. In the short term, we don't even know what broadband services will cost the public and whether retail prices will rise."
"The full privatisation of Telstra was a colossal failure and is in part responsible for the mess the Government is attempting to fix with this announcement. The NBN must be operated in the public interest and the only stakeholders that should count are the Australian people."
"The key concern is what happens to the two million Australians who won't be reached by the network. We need much more detail about proposals for satellite and wireless coverage, because obviously small and isolated communities stand to benefit greatly from increased coverage. The Government should not be content to leave regional areas with broadband eight times slower than the cities."
"Lastly, I welcome the Government's willingness to consider the functional separation of Telstra and other measures to improve competition in the industry."
"We'll be raising these issues with the Government in coming months and we'll be working hard to ensure that any National Broadband Network is run in the public interest," concluded Senator Ludlam.
Media contact: Robert Simms - 0417 174 302