Albanese to introduce bill to keep NBN public as he talks up second-term agenda
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The news: Labor will introduce legislation on Wednesday to keep the National Broadband Network (NBN) in public hands as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese talks up an ambitious second-term agenda.
The context: Albanese took the plan to the Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday morning, allowing the government to introduce the bill on Wednesday which will stipulate that the NBN cannot be privatised.
The move is largely seen internally as a ploy to set up a fight with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton should his party oppose the proposed law.
It comes after taxpayers forked out more than $51 billion for the project after more than a decade. Labor will argue that keeping the NBN in public hands will lock in affordable and accessible high speed internet for all Australians and that privatisation would put that at risk.
In the same meeting, Albanese told Labor MPs that the government was setting itself up for a "big second-term agenda".
Insisting that Labor is focused on winning majority government and not doing deals in the event of a minority parliament, Labor sources said Albanese will over the coming days begin talking about his second-term agenda which will be focused on the Future Made in Australia Act, climate change, economic management and universal childcare.
The development suggests that Labor will announce a significant policy on childcare heading into the next election, due by May next year.
What they said: “All Australians deserve high quality and affordable services no matter their postcode. That includes access to the NBN," Albanese said.
“Keeping the NBN in public hands means high speed broadband remains affordable for Australian families and businesses around the country.
“Upgrades to the NBN are also a key part of our plan for a Future Made in Australia, but achieving this vision won’t happen without a reliable, high-speed National Broadband Network.
“The Coalition made a mess of the NBN — my Government is getting on with the job of fixing it and making sure it stays in public hands, where it belongs.”
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said: “The NBN is critical national infrastructure, and we know that having a faster, higher quality NBN network has a huge impact on Australia’s economy — delivering a $400 billion uplift in GDP by 2030".
“Economic analysis commissioned by NBN Co shows that for every one megabit per second increase in average broadband speed, Australia’s productivity-driven GDP increased on average by 0.04%," she said.
“The Albanese Government is delivering a better NBN for Australians, investing $2.4 billion in the October 2022-23 Budget to expand fibre access to 1.5 million premises by 2025.”
The source: Prime Minister's Office
