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NBN deal 'a victory for families'

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared her last-ditch deal to break a Senate deadlock on the national broadband network as a victory for families.

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Source: AAP


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Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared her last-ditch deal to break a Senate deadlock on the national broadband network (NBN) as a victory for families.

Labor has secured the support of Family First senator Steve Fielding and fellow crossbencher Nick Xenophon for legislation that paves the way for a structural separation of Telstra and the giant telco's participation in the NBN.

Ms Gillard's personal intervention and the release of a 36-page summary of the NBN business case won over the two senators.

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"We have had a victory in the parliament which means it is a victory for families," she told ABC Radio on Thursday ahead of a likely Senate vote.

"It means they're going to get faster, cheaper broadband."

Ms Gillard took a swipe at the coalition, saying the opposition had come into parliament with the aim of destroying the NBN.

"They wanted to destroy the NBN, to destroy the government."

The opposition has queried whether the government is up to the task of delivering the $35.7 billion project, given its poor record on various other programs including the home insulation scheme and the Building the Education Revolution.

Ms Gillard said she understood there was a "careful job" of delivering to be done with the NBN.


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