Australia - Opposition will cancel NBN despite a positive report from consultants

[it wire] Tony Abbott's Opposition will scrap the $43 billion national broadband network if it wins Government later this year, despite a KPMG-McKinsey implementation study confirming the project would produce a healthy return on investment over 15 years.

Shadow communications spokesman Tony Smith said the Coalition continued to regard the plan as "reckless and irresponsible," and said there were more effective ways to deliver better broadband services.

"We have made very clear we don't support going down this path. We wouldn't have gone down this path. We won't go down this path in Government," Mr Smith told a press conference in Canberra.

"If we attain government later this year, seek to save taxpayers from this ill-conceived Rudd adventure."

The opposition would also oppose the telecommunications reform legislation when it was presented to the Senate next week, Mr Smith said. This legislation contains both structural reforms to competition in the telecommunications sector, and also power to force the functional separation of Telstra.

Mr Smith said the purpose of Government's $25 million KPMG-McKinsey study had to be kept in mind: It was tasked with providing advice on how to implement Stephen Conroy's "predetermined plan with its predetermined architecture."

There was nothing in the implementation study that caused the Opposition to re-think its plans to halt the NBN project should it be elected to government later this year.

"Even though the study makes out a business case in the long run, that does not in any way mean that it is the best use of taxpayers money, or the most cost effective way to go about rolling out faster and more affordable broadband," Mr Smith said.

Opposition would cancel NBN despite report