TONY SMITH (Casey) (9.30 am)—I rise to speak this morning on the last sitting day prior to the first anniversary of the horrific Victorian bushfires. On 7 February last year all of us were shocked at the scale of the devastation. I was born in Melbourne, have lived all my life in Melbourne and now live with my family on the edge of the Yarra Valley, and when we saw mushroom clouds of smoke late in the afternoon we all knew that it could only mean one thing.Immediate thoughts went to Ash Wednesday, the last worst reference point for a bushfire. Of course, as difficult as it is to compare, in so many ways it was worse.

In the same week the Auditor‐General exposed Communications Minister Senator Conroy for his recklessness, waste and incompetence the OECD has expressed grave concern about the lack of a cost‐benefit‐analysis for the $43 billion NBN Mark II proposal.

The OECD has rightly said “questions need to be answered” about the lack of a cost of cost‐benefit‐analysis for the NBN.

This is not the first time the Rudd Government has been warned by the OECD.

E & O E

SUBJECTS: Climate Change, Barnaby Joyce, Boxing Kangaroo flag

WILSON:

Joining us know for the first time this year, for our regular political Friday update are Federal Housing Minister, Tanya Plibersek, in Sydney and from Canberra, Shadow Communications Minister, Tony Smith.

The total cost of the failed National Broadband Network Mark I tender process was in excess of $30 million, an Auditor‐General’s Report has revealed today.

It is clear from the Australian National Audit Office report into the National Broadband Network Request for Proposal Process that Minister Conroy oversaw a fatally flawed and costly process.

It is also clear the Minister ignored increasing warnings that the process was failing.