Conroy rejects calls for NBN cost analysis
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Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy has rejected the need for a cost benefit analysis for the planned A$43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN).
He said during question time the country is "crying out" for the NBN infrastructure and that additional studies are unnecessary.
"We don't need any more studies, any more cost benefit analysis," Conroy said.
His comments triggered a heated rebuttal from shadow communications minister Nick Minchin who labeled the minister's decision "extraordinarily reckless" and claimed the government's international research is irrelevant to the NBN.
Minchin called for the government to open the NBN to review by Infrastructure Australia.
Industry experts have said the government may struggle to produce a financial return on the NBN with its eight-year timeframe, but said the network could satisfy the country's broadband requirements and utility innovation for longer than 50 years.
Minchin has called for formal investigations into the government's NBN plans by the Attorney General.
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