Sick to death of Labor broadband spin

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 13 August 2010 10:52

Opinion and Analysis

The Labor party's desperate attempt to bribe tech-savvy Australians with a promise to deliver a 1Gbps national broadband network, sometime over the next 8 years, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars is a disgrace and needs to be exposed.

OPINION: The Labor party, which espouses socialism at its core, is trying to recreate a national monopoly to deliver broadband to Australians at a massive cost that some analysts believe could be double the headline $43b figure.

Although Australia needs a national high-speed broadband network (NBN) of some kind, Australia also needs fiscal responsibility from its government so we the people aren't all contributing to the massive multi-billion dollar interest bill such a wasteful spending program would bring.

Supporters talk about all of the amazing benefits a uniform broadband network would bring, and while the benefits are real and certainly desirable, so is driving around in a Ferrari.

It comes down to cost, affordability, the progress of technology and the ability to trust a particular government to do what it says within its stated timeframes and budget.

Our current government couldn't organise a chook raffle without massive corruption, waste and the likely delivery of a rooster instead, and they want us to trust them with the biggest investment in infrastructure seen in years?

It'd be like expecting the government to organise pink batts for houses without having some burn down through shoddy installation, or the building of school classrooms and halls without massive premiums being applied by the builders seeking to feather their own nests at the expense of the tax-paying public.

Oh, that's right, our current government DID undertake these projects, and, well, we all know what happened.

There's also the reality of our current government's inability to actually tell us the truth. The reality of the 100Mbps network is that it was always capable of delivering 1Gbps speeds, albeit with some technological upgrades, but instead of actually promising this to us in the first place, it has waited until a few days before the election campaign to 'reveal' this amazing upgrade to the public.

Then there's the spectacle of the NBN Co chief, Mike Quigley, telling us that 'his' announcement that the network would deliver 1Gbps was 'his' decision, which 'he' delivered to the Spinister, I mean, Minister and Senator Stephen Conroy only the day before the 1Gbps announcement, 'free' from political interference.

Quick, Quigley, pull the other one from that massive pay packet of yours, you might be able to fool some of the people some of the time, but fool me once and shame on me, fool me twice and not only shame on you, but you should be sacked.

Technology is forever 'moving forward', as the Labor party's stupid election slogan states.

So, if that's the case, especially with the latest technologies being high in price before inevitably falling, why 'rush forward' with a plan that could be a heck of a lot cheaper in a couple of years, especially if our national debt is reduced first lowering our national interest charges?

All those people that squeal about the benefits an NBN will bring are willing to build it, with YOUR money, at ANY cost.

The outrage continues on page two, get angry and click on now!

 

Note: This article reflects the personal opinion of the writer.