Curran Clare: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCurran Clare: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13475. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South): Let us get serious about the real Chorus because when the chair of Chorus rang John Key last December to complain about the Commerce Commission’s draft decision to drop the price of copper she found a very receptive ear. And what story did she tell the Prime Minister? It was that when Chorus negotiated that deal with the Government for ultra-fast broadband it had forgotten to factor in a fall in the price of copper in what was a well-signalled Commerce Commission process that was already in Steven Joyce’s legislation. Maybe Sue Sheldon also told the Prime Minister that Chorus had got a big shock when it had worked out that the price that it had negotiated for the roll-out of fibre was not going to be enough to fulfil that contract or so it claimed and that it might have to go back to its shareholders for more capital. But then she must have put her hand out and said: “Well Mr Prime Minister you have to give us more money. It is your broadband scheme your baby. It was one of your main campaign pledges that you won the 2011 election with and unless you bail us out and keep the price of copper high so we can continue to make big profits and keep our shareholders happy your precious programme will be in big trouble.”John Key bought that line as we know because he came out of the blocks in December saying that he did not like the Commerce Commission’s draft decision to drop the wholesale price of copper from around $37 to around $9 and he would not rule out changing the law to ensure that it did not happen. That is what this Government is proposing to do: change the law or force the commission to do its bidding all to prop up Chorus a private company to protect the Government’s broadband scheme. It is crony capitalism. It is corporate welfare at its absolute worst. Government intervention can be justified when a vulnerable part of your community is disadvantaged but not when a corporate makes a phone call for a bailout.What is really extraordinary is that when John Key was asked about this last week he said that Chorus would go broke if the Government did not intervene. Well somebody is telling porkies here because the Chief Executive Officer of Chorus MarkRatcliffe said that Chorus is not going broke. It has just posted a $171 million profit—$95 million to shareholders. Is there not a requirement that if your company is in trouble then you have to disclose that to the New Zealand Exchange? This was a big deal so who is telling the truth: the Chorus chief executive officer or the Prime Minister?Then there is the gross abuse of powers in intervening in a Commerce Commission process. Amy “I’m not listening to any of you” Adams announced a review that is not actually a review. It is an extraordinary abuse of process. It is bringing forward a review that was supposed to occur in 2016 but it is going to take only one little matter that little matter of the pricing of copper and leave everything else out. It is anti-competitive and it could be illegal.And then there is the building community opposition to what the Government is doing. Ultra-fast broadband was always meant to be for 75 percent of New Zealand households but that leaves 25 percent of New Zealand those living in rural and poorer parts of the country who will never—never—get ultra-fast broadband. And this Government wants all of them to pay more for their copper broadband than they should. It is just rubbish and it is discriminatory. The coalition against the copper tax is right to push hard.What is even more interesting is the unprecedented criticism against the Government by Vodafone one of the very big telecommunications company players. It has come outwith some of the most strongly worded criticism ever heard in the industry standing up to the Government. John Key can protest all he likes. He can call everyone else wrong and all their reports wrong or call them misinformed—whatever it is that he does with everyone—but I tell you this: no one is denying that the amount that Chorus will get out of his intervention will be between $500 million and $600 million in Chorus shareholders’ pockets. The irony is that 2 years ago when Chorus bid for the broadband contract it had a fierce competitor. Vector bargained really hard and many said that it should have got that contract. Vector based its price on the assumption that the ultra-fast broadband would have to compete with a rapidly falling copper price. Vector knew what the score was. Why did Chorus not?The Commerce Commission should be allowed to get on with its job. The Telecommunications Act changes by Steven Joyce 2 years ago were done in a huge rush but carrying out a short-term review on one moving part of a whole system to fix a political problem for the Government is not a solution. There needs to be a real comprehensive review according to law and Labour will undertake that.