The true cost of the National Broadband Network to taxpayers has been detailed for the first time, with a new report showing the project has wiped $8.8 billion off the federal government's balance sheet since it began.
The independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) on Wednesday released a report on the budget impact of the NBN, which warned it could have an "enduring" impact on taxpayers if the government cannot sell it off at a good price.
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Turnbull: I've 'turned around' the NBN
The Prime Minister cites the National Broadband Network as one the projects he's made successful on ABC's 7:30.
The NBN is considered a government asset and is run "off budget". This means its short-term impact on government finances is not detailed in the budget papers like other programs.
The PBO report shows the government's investment in NBN Co has resulted in an $8.8 billion deterioration in the government's net worth, as of June 2016.
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This reflects the re-evaluation of the NBN's fair value, which has deteriorated because of growing NBN losses. The government had pumped $20.3 billion into the NBN by June but its equity funding stood at just $13.1 billion in June.
"These losses reflect the early years of the rollout of the NBN," the PBO said.
The report finds the NBN added $580 million to the budget deficit in 2016-17, a figure set to rise to $730 million the following year and $2.1 billion by 2026-27.
The PBO says these costs are "significantly impacting" the budget bottom line even though they are not identified in the budget papers.
The main driver of the NBN's annual cost to the budget are interest payments.
"The final cost of the Commonwealth's financing of NBN Co will not be known until NBN Co is privatised and the market places a value on the NBN," the report says.
"Until then the Commonwealth will continue continue to bear an annual cost associated with its financing of NBN Co.
"If the sale price of NBN Co is less than the Commonwealth's cumulative cost of financing NBN Co, then the NBN would have an enduring cost to the budget."
The Turnbull government announced in November that it would give the NBN a $19.5 billion loan on top of the $29.5 billion in government funding to build the network.
It said it expected the loan to be refinanced by 2020-21. But the PBO says there is a risk NBN Co will not be able to refinance the loan at an acceptable rate, meaning it will not be able to pay back the loan.
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