Former NBN director Brad Orgill concedes aspects of rollout dysfunctional

Updated

A sacked former director of the NBN Co has conceded that aspects of the rollout were dysfunctional and he has accused both sides of politics of interfering in the multi-billion dollar project.

Brad Orgill refused to voluntarily resign when new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked the NBN Co's board to stand down.

"I chose not to resign with all other board members . . . [because of] my weariness at politics overshadowing fair process," Mr Orgill wrote in an opinion piece published in the Australian Financial Review newspaper.

Yesterday it was confirmed that former Telstra and Optus chief Ziggy Switkowski would take over as the company's new chairman.

Mr Orgill says he suspects Mr Turnbull's decision to remove him was the result of his work for the previous Labor government in investigating the multi-billion dollar school building program.

But Mr Orgill admits that when he was appointed to the NBN board late last year, some of the company's operations were in a bad way.

"I was struck by the dysfunctional nature of various NBN operational aspects but also impressed by what had been achieved in many of the work streams," he said.

He believes the board could have got the rollout back on track.

"We could have got the local network component back on track to complete as scheduled by 2021," he said.

Labor communications spokesman Anthony Albanese says the rollout was not dysfunctional under the previous government.

"Mr Orgill also clearly indicated that he was confident that it could be continued to be rolled out and that the targets were being met," Mr Albanese said.

Mr Orgill says Mr Turnbull could have taken control of the board without having to sack anyone.

Mr Turnbull says he asked the board to resign because the Government needed more flexibility to roll out its version of the network.

"The reality is that there's a new government that's been elected," he said.

"We've got a very clear policy to take the politics out of the NBN and so we need a new board, new management that will give the Australian people a clear and accurate description of where the project is at the moment."

He says Dr Switkowski's appointment is "part of a clean slate for the NBN".

The next task for the network is to complete a strategic review within 60 days to determine how much the project will cost and how long it will take to complete.

Topics: information-and-communication, computers-and-technology, federal-government, business-economics-and-finance, australia

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