Turnbull's claims on JJJ Hack Debate unwarranted

During the JJJ Hack Debate on the NBN on April 16, the Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked the question why I have "never contacted him nor his office" and thereby implied that I was in some way living in an information vacuum. Turnbull is quite correct that I'm not a journalist, I'm an academic that is commenting on the NBN - my area of expertise. Postive and negative aspects of the NBN have been discussed over the past several years.

Putting aside the negative statements made by Turnbull about my knowledge of telecommunications and in particular access networks, it is important that Turnbull understands I have no political axe to grind. I would be happy to learn more about what is happening over at NBN Co so as to be able to provide a more detailed analysis of the multi-technology mix NBN, but is it appropriate for an academic to contact a minister's office to ask for information?

What is interesting is that I was told a couple of weeks ago that one of Turnbull's advisors had wanted to contact me and the advisor was asked to send email to my RMIT University email address to get my contact details. The email never arrived. As an academic, I'm particularly interested in access networks, so I would be happy to take any opportunity to learn more.