Govt accused of nutting out backroom NBN deal

By Ry Crozier on Mar 28, 2011 3:27 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Coalition amendments cause stir.

Leader of opposition business in the House of Representatives Christopher Pyne has accused Labor of "filibustering" as Communications Minister Stephen Conroy lobbied key independent members to turn down Coalition amendments to a series of bills concerning the NBN.

Pyne told the lower house this afternoon that the key independents were "in the members lobby having their arms twisted to change their position on their support" for amendments to these bills proposed by the Coalition today.

He branded it a "disgraceful move to filibuster until the Government offered whatever inducements were necessary" for the independents to change their positions.

Pyne was urged to stop shouting by the speaker of the house but narrowly avoided a point of order over whether his assertion was "highly disorderly".

The leader of the house Anthony Albanese said the accusations were "unparliamentary".

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull later interjected with a point of order, arguing that if Labor "want to filibuster they should at least be relevant".

The coalition proposed amendments on uniform prices and freedom of information rules.

The delays came after the Coalition spent over fours hours this morning arguing whether or not to proceed with debate of the NBN bills, as the lower house had been recalled to do.

Govt accused of nutting out backroom NBN deal

2 comments in this discussion

"This whole government relies on giving in to bribes and demands from the greens and the independents. I'll vote for this if you give me that! In other business and circumstances it would be ..."

By DazzaJ

Tags

government, conroy, backroom, nbn, deal, independents, house, representatives, nbnco

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Comments: 2

Rossyduck

Mar 28, 2011 4:48 PM

And so the train smash for Australia progresses. Do the independents realise that with the retirement of copper not only rural areas but areas just outside the urban boundaries will ultimately rely on wireless ? Not a good outcome for so called rural Australia. Do they realise that once the backhaul from 122 POI's has been taken into account the true wholesale price will be around $44, not $24 for the most basic of services. Wait until they need to provide a high bandwidth service to a small rural POI. why do they think Conroy is avoiding the issue of uniform pricing - he knows how big the differential will be.

DazzaJ

Mar 28, 2011 9:01 PM

This whole government relies on giving in to bribes and demands from the greens and the independents. I'll vote for this if you give me that! In other business and circumstances it would be criminal to offer bribes, yet it seems ppart and parcle of how Labour, The Greens and these independants work. Not interested in the good of Australia or it people, just their own gains. Australia is a political joke!

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