Revealed: NBN bosses paid to play with LEGO

Taxpayers paid for NBN Co executives to play with kids’ toys, it can be revealed, as Australia’s internet speeds languish and Telstra launches a broadband project.

Exclusive: Taxpayers footed the bill for NBN Co executives to play with LEGO as Australia languishes with worse fixed internet speeds than Costa Rica.

High powered executives at the trouble plagued tech giant played with the children’s toy as part of “agile” training sessions.

And NBN Co paid television personality Jessica Rowe $10,000 to host an online party, as the company “burns through money without rhyme or reason.”

Critics claimed that NBN Co should concentrate on getting its network up and running, not pretending to be on Hamish Blake’s television show LEGO Masters.

Hamish Blake is the host of LEGO Masters. Supplied by Channel 9.

LEGO Masters host Hamish Blake and judge Ryan 'Brickman' McNaugh. Supplied: Channel 9.

The NBN Co’s overall budget was likely to blow out to $60 billion.

And Australia remains 61st in the world on average broadband speeds, behind Costa Rica, St Lucia, Paraguay, Jordan and Bulgaria, according to the Speedtest Global Index.

NBN Co confirmed that it paid for staff to use LEGO in three agile working group sessions in 2021.

The company defended the spending saying that it was a tool used by other companies including Pfizer, Google, NASA, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Microsoft and Deloitte.

But RMIT Associate Professor Mark Gregory, an expert on the rollout, said NBN Co was out of touch.

“NBN Co has been burning through money without any rhyme or reason for doing so,” he said.

Prof Gregory said the LEGO sessions were a canary in the coal mine for the waste that has been endemic at the taxpayer owned company.

“The NBN is a failure, Australia is 61st on the league table of internet speeds. They’ve spent $60 billion and it’s still not finished,” he said.

Jessica Rowe has been a popular news presenter and also does corporate event work.

Senator Kimberley Kitching, Federal Labor’s spokeswoman for government services, was baffled at the Playschool-like training.

“LEGO is a great learning tool for children but aren’t NBN Co bosses who are paid multi-millions meant to have mastered basic motor skills and communication before getting the big bucks?” she said.

“To be fair, Hamish Blake’s strict enforcement of construction deadlines on LEGO Masters probably recommends his project management skills over many NBN millionaires.”

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue earns $2.6 million a year.

Labor’s Kimberley Kitching was stunned at the NBN Co’s LEGO spending.

Stephen Rue, the CEO of NBN, was paid $2.6m in the 2020/21 financial year. Picture: Aaron Francis.

NBN Co defended its track record, saying there were now more than 8.4 premises connected to the NBN, serving 17 million people.

“Tools such as LEGO are commonly used by many organisations in training sessions to help participants embed new ways of working for better business outcomes,” an NBN Co statement said.

“NBN Co used LEGO in three Agile training sessions in 2021. This was a small part of a much broader training program.

“Jessica Rowe was engaged in mid-2020 to host an interactive company-wide panel event. The decision to engage Ms Rowe was based on her expertise in engaging a diverse audience in a broadcast format.”

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