Back in October, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned that the $49 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) may never earn a profit, which was followed by warnings that the NBN could punch a big hole in the Budget because the federal government is required to adjust its Budget treatment of the NBN if its commercial return declines to under 2.5%, which may soon be reached.
Around the same time, former Keating Government competition advisor, Fred Hilmer, predicted that the NBN would likely “be sold at a bargain price with the commonwealth taking a hit and blaming its predecessors”, costing taxpayers potentially tens-of-billions of dollars.
