The House of Representatives today released a report on the role and potential of the National Broadband Network (NBN), drawing criticism from the Coalition, which labelled the document a “feel-good report offering support for the rollout of the NBN”.
Entitled ‘Broadening the debate’, the report, from the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, covers how the NBN may impact government services, e-health, education, and other areas.
Committee Chair, Sharon Bird, Federal Member for Cunningham, said: “This report looks at the how the fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure of the NBN will improve economic and regional development, enhance various sectors of government service delivery and help those who are isolated in our communities to connect to the services they need.”
But the Coalition decried the existence of the report, calling it a “highly political exercise.” Within the pages of the document, a trio of MPs - Paul Neville, Paul Fletcher, and Jane Prentice - listed their grievances with the document.
“To be meaningful, this inquiry should have been conducted before the decision to spend $43 billion on the NBN, and it should have been structured as a cost-benefit analysis, rather than a shopping list of benefits without any consideration of cost,” the dissenters said.
The inquiry received a total of 252 written submissions. The Committee also conducted 15 public hearings at 12 different locations around Australia.
The report is available on the Committee’s website.