Opposition hammers Govt over Telstra 'bid'
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'Misled Parliament': Stephen Conroy (AAP: Alan Porritt)
The Federal Opposition says Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has misled Parliament by saying that Telstra has lodged a bid to build the national broadband network.
The Federal Government says its plan to create a fast national broadband network has been vindicated, but the Opposition says the process has collapsed.
Companies including Axia and the consortium TERRiA have lodged bids to build the proposed high-speed national network.
But Telstra's chairman Donald McGauchie says it could not submit a fully-detailed bid because the Government has not addressed some of its concerns.
"Those fundamental risks that we see to the business have to be resolved before we can go any further," he said.
Senator Conroy says he considers that to be a bid.
"[It's] pretty simple; Telstra think they've put in a proposal," he told the Senate today.
Senator Minchin says that is wrong.
"Why has the Minister sought to mislead this Senate by suggesting that Telstra has submitted a bid?" he said.
He says without a Telstra bid the process has effectively collapsed, and the Government is open to legal action from firms that have made a full bid if it negotiates with Telstra over the proposal.
But Telstra insists the Government can still consider it.
Mr McGauchie says Telstra is the only company capable of building the network, but the government must address its concerns adequately before it agrees to do so.
"This proposal we've submitted to the Government outlines what would be achieved by a fully detailed bid which Telstra has prepared, but which could not be submitted due to a number of unresolved issues in the Government's request for proposal," he said.
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