The ground outside a house in Wollongong began to sink when contractors drilled through a stormwater pipe trying to connect the national broadband network.
More than $100,000 was spent connecting three residences in Queensland because 300 metres of solid rock was in the way, while it has cost up to $25,000 to put more 200-metre-long cables into acreage properties in Victoria.
These are some of what Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described as "run-of-the-mill disasters" in delivering the single largest IT project a government has ever embarked on.
"It is a very, very complex project," he told a national infrastructure summit in Sydney on Thursday.
Despite the challenges, Mr Turnbull said the rollout was in as good a shape as it could be.
But the cost could blow out by a $1 billion if the take-up target misses by around five per cent, or only managing to connect 80 per cent of the number of premises per day needed at the height of the project. "I can assure you I'm extremely anxious ... but I think we've made some very big changes," Mr Turnbull said, pointing to a management shake-up and the end of what he described as a "glee club culture".
He has told NBN Co and his own officials not to even think of telling him "what you think I want to hear".
"I want to know what's actually going on." NBN Co chief Bill Morrow earlier revealed he speaks to Mr Turnbull every second day about the rollout.
Mr Morrow said as far as the eye can see the company was "spot on" where the government had expected it to be.
"I think we're on a good road here to success."
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