Turnbull decries NBN pork barrelling
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has lashed out at the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network scheme, describing it as evidence of pork barrelling.
“Analysis of the NBN’s three-year rollout plan in The Australian today shows 59 per cent of suburbs where construction will begin in 2012-13 are in Labor electorates, and only 35 per cent in Coalition electorates,” Mr Turnbull said in a statement.
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, returned fire over the Coalition’s broadband policy. Senator Conroy urged Mr Turnbull to ‘come clean’ over their policy plans.
"Mr Turnbull has made 684 tweets, issued 23 press releases and delivered 7 public speeches in 2012. He has still not, however, released a broadband policy,” Senator Conroy said.
The latest verbal scuffle between the two comes after Senator Conroy described Mr Turnbull has ‘either financially illiterate or lazy’ when Mr Turnbull described the NBN as a cost to the Federal Budget.