Mr TURNBULL (Wentworth—Prime Minister) (15:02): I can assure the honourable member for Blaxland that I have on several occasions complained very publicly and openly about the ABC's coverage of the NBN issue, in particular and most notably in the lead-up to the last election where I felt the ABC's coverage of the issue was very poor and lacked balance. I said so publicly, and I have said nothing privately that I have not said publicly. My point very simply was this: as we know, in the lead-up to the last election there was a debate—a discussion, if you like—about competing technologies and the proposition that the Labor government presented was that the only acceptable solution was to have a universal fibre to the premises network, which was their plan. Ms Rishworth interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Kingston. Mr TURNBULL: We countered and said we can get the project built, the network built, faster and at less cost— Ms Rishworth: By 2016? How is that going to happen? The ABC was right. The SPEAKER: The member for Kingston has been warned. This is her final warning. Mr TURNBULL: We would do that by using a mix of technologies, including using fibre to the node, as has been used in a number of other countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and others. The debate really focused in large part on these competing technologies. In my view—I was very public about this—the ABC failed in its coverage of the issue because it failed to use its rather extensive international resources to at least go and interview people at British Telecom or Deutsche Telekom or Swisscom and test whether the arguments I was putting as the shadow minister for communications were correct. They declined to do that and as a consequence I feel in that regard the national broadcaster, which I hold in high regard, as I am sure honourable members do, should have done a better job in putting more information about the competing alternatives before the public. As honourable members will recall, we went to some lengths to do that, to raise the level of information and debate on this important choice of technology. The member's question asks whether I complained about this to the ABC. The answer is that yes I did complain, but I complained publicly. I was very public about it and made this point— Mr Clare: And privately? Mr TURNBULL: In any of my discussions with the chief executive I have said exactly the same things privately as I have said publicly— Mr Brendan O'Connor: You bullied them. You're a bully. The SPEAKER: The member for Gorton will leave under 94(a). The member for Gorton then left the chamber. Mr TURNBULL: In my view it is important that the national broadcaster, wherever it can, seeks to inform the public debate so to ensure that, right or wrong, the contending arguments are well exposed in light of the facts. (Time expired)