Australia legislates on NBN sell-off

Essentially, the NBN has once again become a political football. Or perhaps more accurately, this perennial political football is being kicked harder than it has been for a while.

This week Anthony Albanese's government introduced a new bill designed to keep the National Broadband Network (NBN) in public hands, citing the need to protect consumer access to affordable high-speed Internet. The bill constitutes a series of proposed changes to the NBN Companies Act 2011 that will – if it passes – remove certain elements of the act that would have come into play in the event of preparation for privatisation.

But while the government is looking to pitch this as being for the benefit of end-users, no one is fooled: this bill is the act of an under-fire government with one eye on next year's election. While talk of NBN privatisation was rife some years ago, there have been few to no whisperings in that direction for quite some time. The government is presenting the solution to a problem that isn't currently there.

"Keeping the NBN in public hands means high speed broadband remains affordable for Australian families and businesses around the country," said Prime Minister Albanese, in a joint statement with Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher and Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland. "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."

The fact that no one has suggested otherwise appears to have made little impression on the PM, who took the opportunity to outline his government's endeavours to support the network; specifically, he talked up an October 2022-23 Budget pledge to commit A$2.4 billion of investment to expand full fibre connections to a further 1.5 million premises by 2025.

"The Coalition rushed to declare the NBN 'complete' so they could put it on the block for sale – selling out Australian consumers and regional communities," the joint statement reads, referring to a December 2020 announcement from then Communications Minister Paul Fletcher.

As Australian business publication ITnews reported at the time, there was still construction work going on and while some premises could not connect to the network, others were not receiving the minimum standard of connection, However, the declaration of completeness was widely viewed as the first step on the road to privatisation.

But when the current Labor government came to power in 2022 it made it clear that NBN would not be sold off, an assertion that present comms minister Rowland has now reiterated.

"It is only a Labor Government that will ensure the NBN remains in public hands," she said, in the joint statement.

"Communities across Australia have told us that the job of upgrading the NBN is not complete, which is why we're investing in more fibre and fixed wireless upgrades," the comms minister said. "Australians don't trust the Coalition not to flog off the NBN just like they did with Telstra, resulting in higher prices and poorer services, especially in the regions."

And with that statement she gave the NBN a good punt towards the opposition.