18th Nov 2010, 10:08 AM – Representatives National Broadband Network Financial Transparency Bill 2010 — Second Reading — Read a second time

The majority voted against a motion to read the bill for a second time. This means that the majority rejected the main idea of the bill and that it will not be considered any further.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. )

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced as a private member's bill by Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull. It relates to the National Broadband Network ('NBN'), which is a key Labor Government initiative.(Read more about the NBN on Wikipedia here. )

Mr Turnbull explained that the purpose of the bill is to require the NBN Co to produce and publish a detailed 10-year business plan for the roll out of the NBN. It also refers the NBN project to the Productivity Commission for "a thorough cost-benefit analysis".(Read Mr Turnbull's introductory speech explaining the bill here.)