Australia’s Federal Government has introduced the first bill of its A$43 billion (US$34.5 billion) national broadband network project. According to lawyers at Blake Dawson, the bill is designed to facilitate obtaining information from companies about their existing network infrastructure that may assist in the rollout of the national broadband network.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said that “in the first instance, this information will be sought voluntarily and the government anticipates a cooperative response from companies who may see a strong commercial opportunity to be part of the national broadband network rollout.”

Australians everywhere will one day surf the internet at broadband speeds, under a planned A$43 billion nationwide broadband project.

However, Blake Dawson lawyers note, organisations could be forced to cooperate. Opposition communications spokesman Nick Minchin was critical of the Bill and said that “quite rightly, this bill has been referred to the Senate Legislation Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts for a thorough inquiry.”