The Senate today passed the necessary legislation for the National Broadband network to get through parliament. The bill, which allows the telco giant to take part in the federal government’s $36 billion national broadband network (NBN), must now go back to the lower house, where it is expected to be approved next week in its newly amended form. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy described the NBN as the holy grail of micro-economic reform. He said the NBN was rolling out 6000 kilometres of cable across regional Australia, opening access to 400,000 Australians and allowing real retail competition in more than 100 towns and cities. Spontaneous applause led by Labor staffers broke out when the legislation was passed by 30 votes to 28 today. The Coalition made a number of last-ditch attempts at delaying the vote but were ultimately unsuccessful.

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham criticised the government and crossbench for not scrutinising the NBN more. “It is a … phenomenally huge amount of the money the government is committing to the NBN,” he said. “And it is committing it with no knowledge whatsoever as to whether it is the best way to deliver fast, affordable broadband services to all Australians, at the lowest cost to taxpayers in a manner that promotes competition in the Australian telecommunications sector.”

To get the bill passed before Parliament rose for the long summer break, the Senate was forced to sit into the night yesterday, and return again this morning to deal with more than 100 proposed amendments to it. No opposition amendments were supported, but a number of changes proposed by the Greens and Senator Xenophon, regarding increased transparency, were accepted. They must now be formally approved by the lower house on Monday before the Telecommunication Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010 can become law.