FEDERAL Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has lashed out at WA’s Innovation Minister Dave Kelly for criticising the national broadband rollout in the State, accusing him of “breaching trust” after the pair’s meeting in Perth.

In an angry letter from Senator Fifield, Mr Kelly comes under fire for using the private meeting to “misrepresent” the issue after he complained that just 70,000 of the State’s 1.2 million homes would get the best service offered by the NBN.

Senator Fifield said that releasing information from the private meeting had damaged the relationship between the State Labor and Federal coalition governments.

The letter claims Mr Kelly ignored the “legitimate explanation” given about the state of the NBN rollout in WA, saying the low penetration of the newest and best fibre to the kerb technology had arisen because the NBN rollout in WA was almost done.

“As I advised, more than one million of the 1.2 million premises across the State can access the NBN, or have construction under way in their neighbourhood, with the balance in the planning or design stage,” he said.

The stoush between the pair comes after Senator Fifield this week announced a review into the telecommunications sector after figures showed formal complaints about the NBN service almost doubled last year.