COMMUNICATIONS Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been challenged to get Tasmania's NBN rollout moving again as contractors and the industry fear a lack of new work.
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Civil Contractors Federation chief executive Tony Cook said while Visionstream was working hard at scoping and designing the next phases, too little information was coming out about available work.
``From what I'm hearing the NBN is rolling out in Launceston . . . but we certainly have no evidence of contractors working in the south of the state,'' Mr Cook said.
With a dramatically decreased workflow, Mr Cook said the million-dollar question was whether there was enough work to give continuity of work after these tenders were completed.
``Things are pretty quiet here in Tasmania, it's not like they can ship their guys off to another project because they might not have one. They need end-on-end work,'' he said.
Speaking outside Tasmania's Parliament yesterday, former communications minister Anthony Albanese laid the blame at the new government's feet.
``I stood here in this very spot prior to the election and warned of the consequences of the election of the Coalition,'' Mr Albanese said.
``What we're seeing is Malcolm Turnbull walking away from those commitments.''
But Tasmanian Industry and Communications Technology chief executive Dean Winter hit back.
``It's a bit rich for Mr Albanese to talk about honouring existing contracts when he was the minister for broadband while the Tasmanian NBN rollout ground to a screeching halt,'' he said.
``The most important thing is that we get the NBN rolled out. That hasn't been happening in Tasmania for four months.''
However, news on the future of Tasmania's rollout could be months away.
A spokesman for Mr Turnbull suggested a decision on how to proceed was unlikely until a major cost-benefit analysis on the network was completed.
Premier Lara Giddings will discuss the issue with Mr Turnbull next week after seeking a meeting from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
``We simply cannot afford to lose our first mover advantage or to be divided into a state of broadband haves and have nots,'' she said.