Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance) (14:55): I thank Senator Smith for the question. Today, for the very first time, the Australian people have the real facts about the true state of Labor's NBN. Those facts are ugly—very ugly. They are much more ugly than— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Cormann is entitled to be heard in silence. Senator CORMANN: Thank you, Mr President. Those facts are ugly—much more ugly than Labor ever let on to the Australian people before the last election. Minister Turnbull and I asked the new leaders of NBN Co. to come clean with taxpayers about the time and money needed to finish the NBN project under the policies of the discredited former minister for communications. Senator Conroy interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! When there is silence on my left, I will call Senator Cormann. Senator CORMANN: Senator Conroy does not like to hear the facts. The strategic review into NBN reveals that the cost of completing the NBN would soar to $73 billion—a staggering $29 billion more than we were ever told by Senator Conroy. Revenue to 2021 would be a staggering $13 billion less than asserted in NBN Co.'s most current corporate plan. Barely two in every 10 Australians would receive the NBN by 2016 and almost half would still be waiting by 2019. Australian households would pay up to 80 per cent more for broadband. The NBN would not be completed until 2024, which is 3½ years later than the completion date in the current NBN Co. plan. Remember Labor's promises in 2007? National broadband would be finished by 2013. It would be building partnerships with the private sector; it was going to cost taxpayers $4.7 billion. Every fact asserted by Senator Conroy and Labor about the NBN has been proven false.