Coalition awards $520k for NBN upgrade to single business in Barnaby Joyce’s electorate

The Morrison government has awarded over half a million dollars in funding for the installation of fibre-to-the-premises NBN to a single business in the electorate of the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, despite the government having previously argued against taxpayer funded fibre upgrades.

Fruit and vegetable grower Costa Group, which on Tuesday reported a 2021 yearly net profit after tax of $64m, is listed in documents provided to Senate estimates as the sole beneficiary of a planned upgrade from satellite NBN services to a full fibre to premises service. The upgrade is for the company's tomato glasshouse facility in Guyra, in the New England electorate, as part of the federal government's regional connectivity program.

NBN Co will switch the business over at a cost of $520,018, with the company needing to install fibre along the New England Highway to connect Costa's facility.

This is despite the NBN Co estimating that the average cost per premises for fibre-to-the-premises is $4,395. The company is also spending about $1,500 per premises to upgrade select homes across the country from fibre-to-the-node to fibre-to-the-premises.

When Joyce announced a range of funding under the program in April last year, while sitting on the backbench and not responsible for decisions such as this, he said of the Costa project that "more residents and businesses in New England will enjoy the benefits and opportunities that improved digital connectivity brings."

However, according to documents provided to Senate estimates by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, the upgrade covers just the Costa facility, with no other premises included.

Other fibre upgrade projects funded in the $117m first round of the program listed cover hundreds of premises each that are subsequently able to connect to the NBN via a full-fibre connection.