Australian Communication Minister Stephen Conroy's department has indicated that the Communications and Media Authority and the local councils may make the exemptions in the rollout of fiber in new housing estates obligatory.

Philip Mason, Assistant Secretary for the NBN and fiber rollout regulation at the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, while speaking to a Senate Committee said that this doesn't necessarily mean that Senator Conroy will take up each and every case as an exemption from installing fiber.

He further said that for the cases which would not fall in the reach of the Senator, either the local planning authority or ACMA would be given the charge of determining whether the exemption is apposite.

He explained that the department is speculating.

Responding to Mr. Mason's explanations, Senator for Queensland Ian Macdonald said that there is a need of conducting a poll on this issue. "If you're speculating, how do you think we're going to be able to approach the vote?", he asked.

The current proposal would allow other authorities to intervene into Mr. Conroy's discretion, thereby interpreting the cases against a set of criteria extended by the Communication Department.