blog If you’ve been following the ongoing speculation around who, precisely, new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is planning to appoint to his refreshed NBN Co board, you will be aware that the Member for Wentworth has been beating a constant drum about NBN Co’s board needing more talent with direct experience rolling out telecommunications networks. The only problem is, Turnbull doesn’t appear to be taking his own advice. I go in-depth on the issue in a piece this afternoon on Delimiter 2.0 (subscriber content). A sample paragraph:
“Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has spent much of the past year telling anybody who will listen that NBN Co’s board needs more directors with actual telco network construction experience. Yet the candidates he’s appointed or been reported to have approached so far for board positions cannot claim that background, and several have close ties to Turnbull’s own Liberal Party.”
The three directors Turnbull confirmed this afternoon — Ziggy Switkowski, Alison Lansley and Kerry Schott — are prime examples of the type of board director Turnbull has been railing against for more than a year now. The latter two have never directly worked in the telecommunications industry and are (separately) a financier and lawyer by background. Switkowski held his Optus post for only a little over a year, led Telstra during a period where it conducted no major network rollouts, and hasn’t worked in telecommunications since 2004. And there are similar problems, as I explore, with the other candidates Turnbull has been reported to have approached for the NBN board.
Image credit: NEXTDC