Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services
Senator for the ACT
The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Member for Fenner
David Smith MP
Member for Bean
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY 2026
SUBJECTS: NBN upgrades begin for up to 97,000 ACT homes and businesses; CGT; private health insurance premiums; GST carve up; ACCC case against Coles; ACNC
DAVID SMITH MP, MEMBER FOR BEAN: Good morning, I am David Smith, the Federal Member for Bean, and we're not quite in Bean, we're a couple of streets away, but we are very, very exciting news about roll out of the NBN today. I'm with the Minister for Finance and Senator for the ACT, Katy Gallagher, Andrew Barr, Chief Minister, and Ellie Sweeney from the NBN. And I'll pass over to Katy for an update on the upgrades to the NBN today.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks very much, Dave. It's great to be here with Ellie Sweeney, the Chief Minister, and my federal colleagues.
This is a really important announcement for the ACT. This is really finishing the job of the NBN here in the ACT. Canberrans were promised a lot when the NBN was announced, and then when the Liberal government came in and they revised the NBN, they downgraded Canberra. And what that meant is that Canberra households, Canberra businesses, didn't get access to the high-speed broadband that we were promised, and this is about finishing that job, making sure that households, businesses can have the choice to have that access to high-speed broadband delivered by the NBN when we know demand through households and businesses for high-speed internet is increasing all the time.
We know that each household has about 25 devices. We know that's going to increase to 44 over time. We know businesses rely very much on access to high-speed internet, and this is about finishing the job. We're so pleased, this was a commitment we gave to the Canberra community last year as we headed into the federal campaign, this is about finishing that job.
So you will see enormous work happening across Canberra over the next three or so years. You're seeing it starting here in Narrabundah, but there's a number of suburbs this will happen right across Canberra, 85 suburbs, a huge amount of fibre rolled out.
We're incredibly pleased the NBN has put together this project here in the ACT and has prioritised Canberra, but also to the Chief Minister and his team, because it is disruptive, it is construction work, it is a big investment in the ACT, but we need to work in partnership across the federal government, NBN and the ACT Government to deliver the high-speed broadband that Canberrans deserve, and that's what this is about.
We know that the Liberals downgraded Canberra. When you have a Labor Government working with the ACT Labor Government here, we get the job done.
ANDREW BARR, ACT CHIEF MINISTER: Good morning everyone. This is a really exciting set of work. We were really pleased with the announcement that Canberra would be prioritised. And I want to particularly thank my federal colleagues, Katy, Andrew, Alicia and Dave for their strong advocacy to make this possible.
Can I thank Ellie and the team at NBN Co for their passionate engagement with us on the fine detail of the roll out. And it is really important that the two levels of government work together effectively here to both optimise the speed of the rollout and to minimise the disruption across the community.
As Katy has said, this is a major infrastructure project for Canberra. We are in the midst, at the moment, of one of the most significant investments in enhancing the territory's infrastructure across so many different areas, whether that's in transport, in education, in the arts and in home building, but a really important part of the federal government's role through NBN Co is to provide an efficient and effective broadband network for this city, and its economic development potential is significant right across Canberra.
So too is what it will do to enhance productivity across our city's economy. So it's a really welcome investment. The ACT Government's role here is through a number of our agencies to work very closely with NBN Co to ensure that the roll out goes smoothly and that we can minimise disruption that households will experience.
But of course, it is a major infrastructure project, so there will be some disruption, but the benefits that will flow from this are enormous for our community and our economy. So it's a fantastic project, a commitment that was made and a commitment that is being delivered, and delivered in partnership between two Labor governments. We are jointly committed to Canberra, to making Canberra an even better place to live, work, study and play, and this is a practical example of delivering those outcomes.
I'll now invite Ellie from NBN Co.
ELLIE SWEENEY, NBN CO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Wonderful, thank you so much. And thank you to Minister Gallagher and Chief Minister Barr and our members here today. Ellie Sweeney, I'm the CEO of NBN.
I've got to say I'm delighted to be in Canberra today, and I'm delighted to be here to make this announcement around the fibre upgrade for the 97 or so thousand fibre-to-the-node customers to that full fibre promise that we've mentioned a couple of times here already.
This is a major infrastructure build for us. We've got 97,000 homes and businesses who are going to be upgraded. It is a program that's across 50 projects, 85 suburbs here in Canberra, and we're going to be hauling more than 2,500 kilometres of fibre optic cable.
So why is this important? Well, today, if you're living in Canberra, you have access to multi-gigabit capability of about 50%. Fifty per cent of Canberrans have access. That number, when we complete in December of 2030, will go to 94% of Canberrans will have access to multi-gigabit fibre capability.
So look, why fibre and why is fibre important? It is the fastest, it is the most reliable, it is the highest availability network that we have, and today you can access multi-gigabit capability as well.
So whether you are working from home, whether you own a business, whether you are streaming, whether you're gaming, whether you are learning, accessing telehealth, accessing government information, you will be on the fastest available network in Australia.
Look, our commitment is really to be making sure we are working with the ACT Government here. You know, this is a big infrastructure build. We are conscious of minimising disruption for Canberrans, but conscious of making sure that this is safe, not only for our workers, but for the communities.
And we're really wanting to make sure that it is the most efficient roll out that we can deliver. I want to thank the government for their equity injection. It really has fast-tracked this move to full fibre. We absolutely welcome that.
We look forward to working with the Chief Minister and definitely making sure, from a community perspective, this is the best upgrade that we can deliver. And from my perspective, I thank our team. We've got boots on the ground here. We have commenced the rollout. It's an incredibly exciting time for us.
We look forward to delivering it effectively and efficiently by December of 2030, and like the Chief Minister and Minister Gallagher, I'm looking forward to seeing the benefits for Canberrans, the benefits that will be economic, productivity and also, quite frankly, the social benefits, really importantly, that come with having a full fibre network.
So on that note, I think we're going to open up for questions
JOURNALIST: Katy, where are these upgrades happening, and why aren't they happening all across Canberra?
GALLAGHER: So they'll happen across 85 suburbs, and that really will be finishing the job of the ones that need fibre to replace the copper that was put in. This was a decision the former Liberal government took, but this is going to complete the job. As Ellie said, it will get to 94% by the end of the project, 94% of households and businesses with access to that multi-gigabit capability, which is what we want to deliver here. It's what we promised. For those that are hard to reach or incredibly difficult, then other solutions will be examined.
JOURNALIST: Can you talk about what the other solutions will be?
GALLAGHER: I might leave that to the technical experts, but they’re in the situation that the rollout of NBN, either on the pole or underground, can't actually make it work. So it's in those situations.
JOURNALIST: Just in this project will go on until after the next election as well. How can Canberrans trust that this will actually follow through till 2030?
GALLAGHER: Well, the project is complex. There's 50 projects within the ACT, but the equity injection has been made. This is a big infrastructure project, so you don't start and stop. Once it's started, it will be complete.
Like for me, who's knocked around a while around Canberra circles, this should have been done, frankly, five years ago, if not long before that. Canberrans have been promised access to high-speed broadband for a long time, back to the TransACT days of the Carnell Government. This is about finishing the job and giving Canberrans the access to internet speeds that they deserve, and that will allow them to lead modern lives in all areas, and businesses as well.
It's so important, it's critical infrastructure, the NBN. That's what we're doing here. It's not good enough that Canberra was shelved, and that's what you get under a Liberal government. We know we've seen that song play before. This is about finishing the job, and only Labor governments do that.
JOURNALIST: Has the cost of the project gone up?
GALLAGHER: Well, I might leave Ellie to answer some of that detail. The government's job, and I'm a shareholder in NBN, was to provide $3 billion in equity injection into NBN, and then they manage the cost as a business, as a government business.
JOURNALIST: Will any compensation be required due to disruption?
GALLAGHER: I think that's where we work, in partnership, across the board. There will be some disruption. You can see it as you've no doubt you drove down here today, and I've seen it in other parts of the country when I go around, where you dig up essentially to lay fibre. But those NBN is very skilled and has enormous expertise in rolling out and delivering on the NBN. And they work very closely. Their consultation processes are second to none.
ELLIE SWEENEY: Look, we've just completed 3.5 million upgrades for the rest of Australia, and I'm delighted to say that was delivered by December of 2025, on time and actually under budget. In terms of equity, the government is up to $3 billion equity injection across 622,000 homes and businesses across Australia, of which the ACT is 97,000 of those. We are absolutely committed to bringing this on time and on budget, and indeed we're seeing efficiencies in our processes, particularly as we've rolled out that 3.5. In terms of compensation, again, we work really closely with local governments and local communities to ensure that it is a great experience.
So again, I'm very confident with the team. We've got a number of our delivery partners here today, and you can see the level of complexity, but also the level of care we take with the community and with the environment as well, very conscious of Canberra and the streetscapes here.
JOURNALIST: In terms of the design, above ground and underground — is plan that locked in? Which areas are above ground and underground?
SWEENEY: Yeah, the majority is going to be underground. And so again, that's why, you know, Canberra has been a challenging build for NBN. It's why we're so grateful that for that equity investment, majority will be underground. We're going to be building, and you would have seen, you know, some shop drills in over there on the corner, we'll be building pits and pipes going to reuse as much as we can. So the vast majority will be underground, and there still will be some overground cabling. But again, the vast majority is going to be underground. And again, that just goes to resilience. It goes to efficiency, and it goes to the long term nature of this investment that we're making.
JOURNALIST: In terms of the market you've got Elon Musk’s Starlink, will this be worth it by 2030?
SWEENEY: Just to give you a couple of stats, we had a half year results last year, last week rather, and a couple of things really stood out for me. We've now hit more than a million customers have upgraded to fibre over the last couple of years, we now have more than 35% of Australians are on the fibre network. The amount of downloads that we are seeing is just exponentially growing. And to give you a stat, which I think is really important, a year ago, 3% of Australians were on 500 megabits and above. Today, 31% actually, yesterday, 32% of Australians. You can't get that speed on a Starlink. So we think Leo has a place within Australia. It's great in low density environments. If you think about Australia, those remote areas, it makes a lot of sense. But fibre, globally is recognized as a superior technology. It is the fastest, it is the most scalable, so it will get you up to that multi gig speed as well. It is not impacted by line of sight, and it's not impacted by congestion. So I think, from our perspective, this is an investment, not only today, but for decades to come. And once that fibre is in the ground, it's there, and it is only the electronics on either end that we need to upgrade to take those speeds even higher in the decades to come. So again, fibre - definitely the predominant technology and the superior technology,
JOURNALIST: Can you talk about the suburbs that aren't going to be upgraded and why that's the case?
SWEENEY: I can't give you those suburbs yet. The great news for Canberra is when we started this a year ago, we expected about 95% would be on full fibre technology. Today we've just announced that will be 99 and we'll be looking at that final 1%. Quite frankly, the logistics of that make it uneconomical, but we'll be looking at a better technology than what people are on today, which is copper. So whether they go to a fixed wireless solution, or whether they go to a low Earth orbit solution, which we announced last year our partnership with Amazon Leo as well.
GALLAGHER: And just from the government's point of view, NBN is critical infrastructure, and it's in public hands. That's fundamental to the commitment we have to NBN, but also the investments we've made.
JOURNALIST: But you want them to be as efficient as possible and to avoid any delays?
GALLAGHER: Of course. I mean, that goes without saying, but yes, watching how they've rolled out, NBN Co has managed this project across the country, I have enormous confidence that nothing in Canberra will surprise them, and they will be able to deliver along the time frame, if not earlier, than has been outlined.
JOURNALIST: What sort of safeguards are in place to protect us from a cost blowout?
GALLAGHER: Well, NBN manages the project on behalf of the government, and they're a very efficient company that's been doing this right around the country. We don't have any concerns, nor have I been advised of any concerns about budget blowouts. It was reasonable to put an equity injection in to deliver this final bit that wasn't part of the original rollout after the Liberals revised it back to copper and downgraded the ACT.
JOURNALIST: And Senator, just on Philip Lowe's comments. What do you make of those? Is he just lobbing bombs, or is there a bit of truth to what he said?
GALLAGHER: I will respect the former Governor of the Reserve Bank, and I note there's a lot of commentary around from various spokespeople who have views on things. I mean, the government's job is to deliver the budget that delivers on cost-of-living help to households when they need it, find savings where we can, pay down debt where we can, lower the interest on our debt bill. We've done all of that since coming to government, and Jim and I will continue that approach.
I get a lot of free advice around spending restraint. I don't get a lot of free advice about where that spending restraint should occur, and people value the investments we've made in Medicare. We know the investments we're making in defence are critically important for our nation's security and safety. In NDIS, you know, managing that and making sure that we're delivering services to people with a disability, while managing the growth in that, is huge. Aged care… the demands on the budget continue to grow is what I'm saying, and we have to find savings within our budget. That's the job that I've got in the lead-up to the budget, and we'll be focused on that.
JOURNALIST: You respect his views. Do you think, though, that they're perhaps tarnished a little bit, given his history around rate rises and apologising to the public? Does that give you less inclination to listen to what he has to say?
GALLAGHER: Oh look, I mean, I'm not going to have a go at the former Governor of the Reserve Bank. You know, like my job, Jim's job, is to make sure that we're making the right decisions for the economic circumstances we face, that we take our job seriously, that we're managing those pressures of spending restraint, cost-of-living help and demands on the budget. And that's not an easy job. I don't pretend it is, but they're the big challenges that we face going into the budget, and we're very mindful of the role that the budget plays in that.
JOURNALIST: Some of those savings, will they come from CGT changes?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think the PM and the Treasurer have been clear that, tax reform — you know, on top of the stuff that we're already doing, they're some of the issues we're considering.
JOURNALIST: And how close is the government to announcing changes to the capital gains tax discount?
GALLAGHER: Well, our tax policies haven't changed. We've got our better-targeted super changes that are in the parliament now. We've got tax cuts that come on the first of July this year and first of July next year. So that's our policy, and we'll be delivering on those, and we're working on the budget and all the decisions around the budget over the next few months.
JOURNALIST: And you talk a lot about intergenerational inequity. Do you see the capital gains tax discount as part of the problem?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think the Treasurer, the PM and myself, we've said a number of times that we are interested in a discussion on intergenerational equity and how it relates to housing, and I don't think that's a surprise. You guys talk about it all the time. The community talks about it. Housing is a real area of pressure for us, and we've got a big program to deliver. It's focused on supply and building more houses, essentially, and making sure people can get access to affordable housing. But we have to consider all these other issues as they emerge, and we're doing that.
JOURNALIST: Wages data again, does Philip Lowe's comments, going back to those, does that give you any pause around spending? Like you said, that mean wages growth will slow dramatically. I guess that must be a concern.
GALLAGHER: Well, we'll update our forecast in the budget. So you know, the last forecast were released in May last year. Sorry, we had a budget in March, and then we had MYEFO, but they'll be updated in the normal way. I saw the Reserve Bank updated their forecasting in their Statement on Monetary Policy. I mean, the issue is, when you have inflation a bit higher than you'd like, that does have a corresponding impact on wages. We think getting wages moving again, which we've been focused on since 2022, has been an important part of our economic story. I mean, you know, the performance of the labour market and wages growth have been two incredibly important parts of the story over the last three years. You know, people earning more, keeping more of what they earn, and having a job. And I think sometimes those two elements aren't recognised in some of the discussions that we have around our economic performance over the last three years.
JOURNALIST: 5% savings and rising APS wages?
GALLAGHER: Well, we're heading into bargaining with the APS in the next couple of months. So that's come around sooner than I think everyone realised, but we are heading into a bargaining period with our employees.
Look, it's just an exercise, I've said this before, it's an exercise in fiscal discipline. We want departments to understand that when they come to the ERC wanting more money for doing things, that they have to be thinking about how they're spending their money currently. It isn't simply an add-on situation. We're not in that world, and we need secretaries to do that work. They've done that for us. We'll consider those responses as part of the budget.
JOURNALIST: The IMF has suggested that Infrastructure Australia should play more of a closer role in managing state and territory projects to prevent some of those cost blowouts. Do you think that's a good idea?
GALLAGHER: My first point on that, I imagine the Chief Minister might have a view. I imagine states and territories will have a view if Infrastructure Australia sought to kind of impose decisions on their budgets. What I would say is I think it's incredibly important that the Commonwealth and state and territory governments work together on the delivery of infrastructure, particularly where it involves national infrastructure and the pipeline, the delivery, the pressures around shortages and supply chains, all of that matters, and working across all levels of government matters. And so if there's ways to improve that, of course we're open to it, but I would think that Infrastructure Australia having a broader role than it does, and I know it does work with state and territory governments now, is a matter really for the states and territories.
JOURNALIST: Katy, how concerned are you by above-inflation private health insurance premium increases?
GALLAGHER: So this is a decision that the Minister for Health makes. And every year we go through this process where private health insurers provide their information around the increases they're seeking, and then there's a process of negotiation. So the agreement that's been reached has it just over 4%. And, I get that that's difficult for households. These are big costs on households. The issue with private health insurance is, you know, one, it's an important part of our health-care system. Second thing is that wages and the cost of providing health care is growing, going up all the time, and we have to make adjustments to meet some of those costs. But I would also urge people to call around, like if they don't think they're getting a good deal, or their premium's gone up more than they would like, to contact other private health-care providers and see what the best rate is, including contacting your own health-care provider and saying you want a better deal, and that often delivers better outcomes for people.
JOURNALIST: I just have one more question on the North Canberra Aboriginal Health Centre that's going to have to shut down at the end of the month if it doesn't get federal funding or territory funding. The territory health minister has said that it's federal funding that they're looking for. Do you have a response to that?
GALLAGHER: Well, this is with Yerrabi Health Service. And yes, I am working with Yerrabi. I've had some engagement with them. I've met with them a couple of times. My office has been involved, and there's some ongoing discussions there, including with the Health Minister's office.
JOURNALIST: Is it time for the ACT population to be properly acknowledged in the GST carve-up?
BARR: Yes. Well look, there's been some important progress in terms of the statistical methodology that goes to determining the estimated residential population between the five-yearly nationwide census. The problem has been a consistent view from the ABS that, using Medicare data, that more people leave the ACT to go interstate than come into the ACT from interstate. We have data, and we're backed by the five-yearly census, that shows that's wrong. But creating a new statistical model that accurately captures the movement of people internally within Australia is the solution to this problem. In the meantime, there's a census in August of this year, so we would be hopeful that, unlike last time when the ABS was out by 5%. Undercounted the ACT’s population by 5%, which is a material impact on our share of the GST and on all of the national funding agreements that are based on population. So we're very focused on this for understandable reasons, but I want to acknowledge the work of the other Andrew, Andrew Leigh, who has been working very closely with us and the ABS to put in place a new formula that is fair to everyone, because it needs to address not just the ACT issues, but Tasmania experienced a similar problem last census. But this is obviously the distribution of nearly $100 billion of GST funding, and it needs to be based on accurate data. I think in this day and age we can do better than whether people have updated their Medicare address to determine where they live in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Mr. Leigh, what was your reaction to the Coles versus ACCC? Do we have problems on the price gouging?
ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR PRODUCTIVITY, COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY: Well, these are very serious allegations, and if proven, they would be one of the most serious breaches of consumer confidence that we've seen in Australian history. When we came to office, we increased the penalties for anti-competitive conduct. We raised them above the insufficient penalties that they've been under the Liberals. We've also resourced the ACCC in order to bring actions of this kind. And we have a very broad supermarket competition agenda, as broad as any other government Australia has had, whether that's the work we're doing on banning supermarket price gouging, cracking down on shrinkflation through the unit pricing code, providing shoppers more information through CHOICE’s quarterly grocery price monitoring. We understand that the supermarket sector is very concentrated. With that, we are committed to putting forward the resources to get a fairer deal for farmers and a fairer deal for families.
JOURNALIST: Andrew, does it concern you that we're seeing fringe groups like Shincheonji trying to recruit Canberra students?
LEIGH: The Australian Charities Not for Profits Commission has its independent remit for looking at the deductible gift recipient status and the charitable status of organisations. The allegations are very concerning, but the ACNC has its arm’s length role from government. Again, we've provided them with the resources they need, and we've beefed up the powers that they have in order to speak out on issues of concern, so we'll be following closely what the ACNC does in this case.
JOURNALIST: Has the Tuggeranong health Co Op received its federal funding?
SMITH: My understanding is that it has, and it's called the Greenway practice now.
JOURNALIST: I've got one question, so you might have seen by now the reporting on Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, who says she resigned due to sexual harassment and alleged sexual assault by a public servant. These are serious allegations, of course. What are you doing to verify this and address this?
BARR: There are obviously processes within the ACT public sector, including the Public Sector Standards Commissioner. There are obviously the police, who would have a role if there's been a referral of a particular allegation to them. So there are, I guess, established public sector practices to respond to circumstances like this.
ENDS