Former Coalition communications minister Helen Coonan who is looking pretty good at 66 – may join the shortlist of putative NBN Co board members, as the Abbott Government selects a new team to lead the trimmed-down $20.4 billion project, the Australian Financial Review claims. Also being approached, according to a number of reports is NBN Co’s former head of construction, Patrick Flannigan.
Flannigan resigned from NBN Co in April 2011, following a move by the company to break off its tendering process with construction firms, arguing that the companies’ quotes were over-priced
Former Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski is expected to become NBN Co’s executive chairman, with only Kerry Schott and Alison Lansley tipped to survive from the current board.
Coonan was comms minister in the Howard Government from 2004 to 2007, when that government was defeated. She resigned from Parliament in 2011.
Labor MP Ed Husic has said appointing her to the new board would be a mistake. “The Coalition botched broadband last time and Helen Coonan was part of that process, so I don’t see how that helps advance the rollout of faster broadband,” he said.
