By Lisa Martin and Tess Ikonomou in Canberra

Keeping the NBN publicly owned will ensure all Australians have access to affordable high-speed broadband and not just the privileged few, the federal government says.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland introduced new legislation to parliament on Wednesday to keep the $51 billion network in public hands.

“It remains vital that the ongoing mission and focus of the NBN to deliver affordable, accessible, high speed broadband to all Australians be guided by the public interest rather than the commercial interests of a privileged view,” she said.

Ms Rowland said more than 8.5 million customers would be worse off if the network was privatised.

She said it was critical this national infrastructure be secure in a time of rising cyber security risks.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would ensure regional and rural communities would be looked after, as NBN access was a matter of equity.

“The National Broadband Network is a vital national asset, and it delivers an essential public service,” he said.

Mr Albanese criticised the opposition, who he said would be happy to “sell out the national interest in a heartbeat”.

Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman said the coalition would form a view on the legislation once it had been briefed, and had the ability to review it.

“But what this is about … is an attempt to distract from the catastrophic failures from this government relating to many things, including the NBN,” he said.

“People are running, literally running away from the NBN product, because it is so bad.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the NBN helped to fuel economic growth.

She pointed to economic analysis NBN Co commissioned which showed that for every one megabit-per-second increase in average broadband speed, Australia’s productivity-driven GDP increased 0.04 per cent on average.

In August, NBN Co’s 2024 financial results showed its revenue for the year increased four per cent to $5.5 billion and earnings rose to $3.9 billion.

The figures come more than a year after the federal government announced a $2.4 billion investment in the network to fund internet upgrades for 1.5 million homes.

The Communication Workers Union, which represents NBN staff, hailed the move to keep Australia’s “digital backbone” in public hands.

NBN workers would breathe a sigh of relief that their jobs won’t be on the chopping block, national president Shane Murphy said.

“This bill will ensure that Australians will not be threatened with massive price hikes and service quality deterioration that would inevitably occur should this vital piece of our nation’s public infrastructure be sold to the highest bidder,” he said.