Coalition divided over telco reform bill

The Rudd government will push ahead with its timetable for reforming the
telecommunications sector after a coalition move to delay a vote on the plan
appeared doomed.
The coalition says it will not support the relevant legislation in its current form
and on Wednesday introduced an amendment that seeks to delay the vote at least until
after an implementation study into the national broadband network (NBN) has been
completed.
The government wants the bill passed in November.
However, the coalition seems unlikely to get the numbers in the Senate required to
get its amendment passed.
It would need the support of at least two crossbench senators to carry the vote.
The Australian Greens will not agree to the amendment, and while independent Nick
Xenophon is yet to come to a final position, he has indicated he is also unlikely to
support the move.
There are also signs of a split in coalition ranks over the entire reform package,
which seeks to force the break-up of Telstra.
Labor wants Telstra's wholesale and retail businesses separated - either voluntarily
or by force - to create a more level playing field before rolling out the NBN.
But a day after the coalition announced after a joint party room meeting that it
would oppose the legislation, Nationals leader in the Senate Barnaby Joyce broke
ranks, saying he supported Australia's largest telco being structurally separated.
"There is definitely an argument for structural separation. It's how we go about
doing it," Senator Joyce told ABC Radio.
"I think if we had our time again we would not have voted for the sale of Telstra
without structural separation and I believe that view is held on both sides of the
political fence."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Senator Joyce's comments showed the coalition was
divided on the broadband plan.
"So there we have the coalition once again split right down the middle on the
question of a core piece of economic policy for the future of the nation," Mr Rudd
told parliament.
"If the Liberals had their way Australians would be left using carrier pigeons for
the future rather than accessing an internationally competitive broadband network."
The legislation gives the government power to impose functional separation if
Telstra fails to undertake structural separation.
The opposition has accused the government of rushing the bill through the parliament
but Senator Conroy says there is no reason to delay its passage through the
parliament.
"We won't be backing down on that, and Nick Minchin is being exposed as being a
complete luddite," Senator Conroy said.
The coalition's move to delay the vote until after the implementation study was
completed was really about covering over dissent within their own ranks, he said.
"The implementation study is a furphy. It's a figleaf that the opposition are
seeking to use to cover their lack of leadership," Senator Conroy said.
"They are a rabble, and Nick Minchin and Malcolm Turnbull should get their act
together and make a decision."
Senator Minchin, the opposition's communications spokesman, said the government
should have the courage to mandate the separation of Telstra in its legislation.
"Instead, it is resorting to the cowardly use of legislative blackmail in a bid to
force Telstra to break itself up to prop up its dodgy $43 billion NBN proposal, in
order to avoid having to pay billions of dollars in compensation," Senator Minchin
said.
The NBN implementation study is not expected to be completed until next February.