Another ministerial broadband furphy

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 26 April 2007 19:04

Opinion and Analysis

The hypocrisy of our communications minister beggars belief: In her latest tirade against the ALP's FTTN plans she has berated the opposition for quoting a $30 billion estimate of the annual economic benefit of broadband, when she has used exactly the same estimate for the same purpose.

In a press release issued today, 26 April, senator Helen Coonan said: "Labor's only justification for throwing $4.7 billion of taxpayer's money into a discredited proposal is based on a figure quoted in a Government report that will be a decade old by the time their planned rollout is completed. Labor's claim that its broadband proposal would reap a $30 billion a year benefit to the economy was rightly reported today as being a 'furphy'."

I'm not sure what Government report she has in mind, but the report of the Broadband Advisory Group (admittedly a report to the Government, not by the Government) published in January 2003, said: "What quantum of productivity gains might be possible? Accenture estimates that next generation broadband could produce economic benefits of $12 billion to $30 billion per annum to Australia. This assumes that broadband is adopted as universally as the telephone over the next 25 years. A policy of encouraging widespread broadband adoption could deliver accelerated economic value within years rather than decades."

As recently as August 2006, the minister was citing this same estimate as evidence of the importance of broadband and justification for the Government's broadband initiatives. In an address to the Australian Financial Review National Infrastructure Summit, she said: "One report suggests that next generation broadband could produce economic benefits of between $12 and $30 billion per annum. And that is why the Australian Government is devoting considerable resources - $1 billion to date and a further $3.1 billion proposed - to the rollout of advanced communications services around Australia. There can be no argument that broadband infrastructure is critical to Australia's future prosperity. It must be a national priority."

Today's attack on the ALP's plan is the latest in a series from Coonan, none of which stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny. Which suggests that the policy is seen as having real merit and is rattling the government.