The minister responsible for delivery of the national broadband network says the introduction of 5G services in Australia is unlikely to pose a significant threat to the NBN Co's business plan – and has swept aside "premature" talk about privatisation of the network.

When John Howard came to power in 1996, there was no money in the government kitty to fund the strategy which he planned to follow: inducing people to vote for him thereafter by greasing their hip pockets. So he sold off the first tranche of Telstra. And there ended Australia's dreams of having a decent broadband network.

Telstra's announcement that its plan to cut 8000 jobs by 2022 will improve customer service has been labelled as "nonsense" by the Australian Greens.