Amendments to the National Broadband Network (NBN ) legislation introduced by Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy,  have been passed with some late changes.

 

In an extended sitting on Friday, the NBN Companies bill was passed 34 to 32, following strong resistance from the Opposition,  when independent Nick Xenophon and Family First Senator Steve Fielding finally gave their support.

 

The Greens demanded last-minute changes over freedom-of-information scrutiny of the NBN Co and, with support of Senator Xenophon and the opposition,  required that the FOI minister conduct a review to assess if FOI laws have been abused in a years time.

 

The Senate is now debating the NBN Access Arrangements Bill, which is also required to enable the $11 billion deal with Telstra to proceed.

 

The opposition communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, said the amendments would give NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley “almost unrestricted scope to defy the government's commitments to uniform national wholesale pricing and proper regulatory supervision of this vast newly-created monopoly”.

 

Further information on the amendments to the NBN legislation can be found on the Federal Parliament's website.