The Albanese government has introduced a bill into Parliament to keep the National Broadband Network (NBN) in public hands. The $51 billion NBN project, which was first announced in 2007, aims to provide faster internet connections across Australia through a nationwide fiber-optic network.
Critics have questioned the timing of the announcement, suggesting that it was intended to divert attention from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent comments about Tourette’s syndrome. However, Albanese defended the bill, stating that the NBN was built by Australians and should belong to the public. He emphasized that this legislation is aimed at safeguarding the future of the NBN and preventing its privatization or sale to overseas interests.
In response, Liberal Member for Casey Aaron Violi accused Albanese of using this bill as a distraction tactic. He argued that it would not change how the NBN operates and raised concerns about service outages in his electorate during a festival. Violi also highlighted an increase in costs for NBN satellite services and pointed out that more Australians were opting for Elon Musk’s Starlink instead.
Jordan Dittloff, a Libertarian Senate candidate for Victoria, echoed these sentiments by stating that private companies would not be interested in purchasing an underperforming government-built NBN when alternatives like Starlink were available.
Labor Communications Minister Michelle Rowland supported keeping the NBN publicly owned due to concerns about potential privatization by future governments. She emphasized that this bill would ensure digital inclusion and price certainty for industry and consumers.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher highlighted the government’s investment of $2.4 billion from their budget to expand fiber access by 2025. She stressed that having a faster and higher quality NBN network could significantly impact Australia’s economy with an estimated $400 billion uplift in GDP by 2030.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Albanese apologized for his comment about Tourette’s syndrome during Question Time on October 8th. He acknowledged his mistake and expressed regret towards those who suffer from this disability.