"KEVIN Rudd and Stephen Conroy’s bungled National Broadband Network dream faces a formal audit as new documents confirm the organisation asked taxpayers to spend nearly $500,000 on beanies and high-vis clothes.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull will announce today he has appointed Bill Scales, a former Productivity Commission chairman, to report to the government on Labor’s decision making processes in the early days of the NBN.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull will announce today he has appointed Bill Scales, a former Productivity Commission chairman, to report to the government on Labor’s decision making processes in the early days of the NBN.
The announcement comes as new documents reveal the extraordinary cost of the NBN’s marketing and branding.
As Communications Minister Senator Conroy was frequently spotted at NBN launches kitted out in high vis NBN vests and now the substantial cost to taxpayers of the branding exercise can be revealed.
After launching a forensic examination of NBN expenditure since taking office, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has revealed the organisation spent $30 million on hundreds of “communications and public information’’ projects.
The $30 million expenditure over 2009-13 on marketing included opinion polling, discovery trucks, market research, focus groups, marketing and corporate communications, public and community relations, events management, media training and advertising. One company, called Bangers and Tash, a boutique creative agency in Sydney, secured contracts to organise the production of branded NBN polar fleeces and beanies worth $152,000 and high vision shirts and vests worth $321,000.
“This shows the triumph of spin over substance under Labor. Stephen Conroy set new records for appearing in high-vis vests, to give the impression that progress was being made on the network,’’ Mr Turnbull said.
“But the truth is very little was actually done. To spend $7 billion to get to less than 3 per cent of the country is a shameful legacy.”
Senator Conroy was contacted for his response to Mr Turnbull’s claims and declined to comment.
Despite the $7 billion taxpayer-funded spending spree on the NBN, the rollout has extended to just three per cent of Australian homes and businesses. Only a fraction of these premises — 154,000 — have an active connection..."
