By Lenore Taylor
The fate of the Rudd government's $43 billion national broadband strategy rests with the Family First senator Steve Fielding, who will spend the weekend deciding whether to support legislation aimed at forcing Telstra to sell its assets to the new high-speed network.
On Thursday key players were of the opinion Senator Fielding would vote with the Coalition to block the bill, making it more difficult and almost certainly more expensive for the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, to do the Telstra deal that is crucial to the success of his high-stakes broadband policy. But Senator Fielding told the Herald that after meeting NBN Co's chief executive, Mike Quigley, last week he was undecided and would spend the next few days talking to key players including Senator Conroy and Telstra's chief executive, David Thodey.
Senator Steve Fielding.Credit: Andrew Meares
''I am reluctant, I am worried that this is a very aggressive way for the government to try to force a deal, but I could still be convinced there is reason and urgency for this bill to go ahead,'' Senator Fielding said. ''I don't want the new [broadband network] to end up an expensive white elephant, but I don't want to see Telstra shareholders dudded either.''
The legislation, unveiled by Senator Conroy last year, is aimed at speeding up the negotiations for Telstra to sell key assets to NBN Co so the government can reveal a business case and cost for its plan before the election.
Depending on the price negotiated, a deal to incorporate Telstra's existing infrastructure could make the total cost far lower than the $43 billion ''worst-case scenario estimate''.
The Coalition insists it is unfair for the government to ''hold a gun to Telstra's head'' in negotiations.
''Telstra and its shareholders should be allowed to make a commercial decision based on what is in the best interests of the company, not what is in Labor's short-term political interests,'' the opposition's spokesman on communications, Tony Smith, said.
''This attack on Telstra's 1.4 million shareholders is unprecedented. The government's problems are all of its own making, it recklessly committed to this project without a business plan when everybody knows the [network] cannot be viable without Telstra's participation.''
Senator Conroy said he remained in negotiation with all crossbench senators.
Next week the government could also make public a crucial implementation study for the project which was not subject to any cost-benefit analysis before it was announced.