The cost to the Australian public of the expert panel's advice on the National Broadband Network has been released, with some members receiving almost $400 an hour.
The cost to the Australian public of the expert panel's
advice on the National Broadband Network has been released, with
some members receiving almost $400 an hour.
To date the only big winners from the Rudd Government's
broadband promises have been lawyers, consultants and specialist
advisers.
Nick Minchin
According to Shadow Communications Minister Nick Minchin, who
asked the Department for Broadband Communications and the Digital
Economy for information on the panel's meetings and remuneration,
the panel had cost more than $702,000 over 10 months, including
travel expenses of $89,946.
Yet the costs for the advice did not end with the panel's
remuneration. According to Minchin, the department also said that
employee expenses for its NBN Taskforce, which supported the panel,
came to $3.36 million.
The panel consisted of seven members: Patricia Scott, secretary
of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital
Economy; treasury secretary Dr Ken Henry; Tony Shaw, former ACA
chairman; Tony Mitchell, chairman of Allphones; business advisor
John Wylie, CEO of Lazard Carnegie Wylie; Reg Coutts, Telstra
advisor and head of telecommunications advisory firm Coutts
Communications; Laureate Professor Rod Tucker of the University of
Melbourne.
Aside from Scott and Henry, all were paid the $375 an
hour rate, capped at eight chargeable hours a day. Between March 2008 and January 2009 the panel had 12
face-to-face meetings, 24 teleconferences and four site visits.
To see the Department responses to Minchin's
queries, including a table showing which members attended which
meetings, click here (Word document).
Minchin believed the costs made it more important that the
expert panel's advice be released. He has accused Communications
Minister Stephen Conroy of being in contempt of the Senate for
not releasing the NBN expert panel's report after the process was terminated and gave him an ultimatum,
now passed, to table it. If the ultimatum was not met, Minchin
threatened to block legislation for the government's new NBN plan.
Conroy did not comply with the ultimatum, saying that the
government cannot release the documents due to commercially
sensitive information it contained, likely relating to network
infrastructure belonging to telco giants like Telstra and
Optus.
"To date the only big winners from the Rudd Government's
broadband promises have been lawyers, consultants and specialist
advisers," Minchin said.
