NBN Co, Conroy back in business

Opposition leader Tony Abbott said he "wasn't surprised or shocked" by the decision of the independent MPs but that he was disappointed.

"I was nevertheless grateful for the opportunity over the past fortnight to put my case to the independents," Abbott said.

He believed he had taken good policies into the election and lambasted the Government over its broadband network policy.

"My suspicion is that the NBN is going to be school halls on steroids," he said, referring to the cost blowout on the Building the Education Revolution scheme.

"I think it's going to be an absolute minefield of waste and incompetence and you can be absolutely certain the Opposition will be hypersensitive in this area.

"No competent government would commit $43 billion without a full cost-benefit analysis. The fact this Government has done so is a very bad sign for competent government."

The Greens' response

Greens communication spokesman, Senator Scott Ludlam, said Australia had reached a "good outcome" for its telecommunications landscape.

But the broadband debate was far from over. Senator Ludlam said that although there was clarity over the House of Representatives, the upper house would not be finalised until the middle of next year.

"Technically, the Senate is still hostile to the prospect of rolling broadband bills out. We'll be going into negotiations the Coalition and [Family First Senator] Steve Fielding."

He noted the NBN was "one of the areas where there was a clear distinction between the parties", with Labor committing up to $43 billion on a fibre-based network, and the Coalition planning to spend just over $6 billion.

"The issues we've been raising about privatisation and rolling it [the NBN] in rather than rolling it out got good coverage during the campaign," he said.