Why has the Australian Government set up, at great expense to the taxpayer, a standing committee on the national broadband network? Simple. It is a way of convincing people that the government is seized of the importance of the NBN and at the same time defending the cock-eyed policy it has on the rollout.

The NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, has made a loss of $4.24 billion for the 2017 year, according to the accounts which were released on Friday.

Ways of improving broadband access in rural, regional and remote Australia were under the spotlight at a meeting on Tuesday between the regional telecommunications lobby group the Regional, Rural and Remote Communications Coalition (RRRCC) and the executive team from NBN Co.