[LINK] Benefits of a digital economy enabled by the National Broadband Network

[Kim Holburn]

On 2010/Sep/22, at 10:30 AM, Kim Holburn wrote:
> On 2010/Sep/22, at 10:01 AM, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
>
>> George Bray wrote:
>>> Yes, I find the coalition's determination of the NBN's value in only
>>> financial terms to very tiresome. It surely plays well to the half  
>>> of
>>> the country where nothing should be done if it won't be worth more
>>> dollars down the track. Turnbull's comparison between a
>>> corporate/shareholder investment and a national/citizen investment
>>> marks the delineation of left and right political mantras pretty
>>> well.
>>>
>>> I saw this on the latest Q&A too, where Christopher Pyne phrased his
>>> comments in terms of taxpayers, not citizens. It's a fine point but
>>> it
>>> neatly shows who the intended beneficiaries are in any discussion on
>>> national investment and the "return" to those who pay.
>>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> The $43billion has to come from somewhere:\
>
> No-one's sure how much it will cost.  As I understand it with the
> Telstra deal it is $11 Billion less, so only $32bilion for starters.
>
> The Coalition's broadband plan was said to cost $16 Billion.  Where
> was that going to come from?  Who was going to benefit from that?  Who
> was getting oversight of that spending?  What were we the tax payers
> going to get for that?  What were country residents going to get?

Just to elaborate on this point.  I don't really know if the NBN is  
going to go that well.  It does answer some of the issues I see but  
everything comes down to the implementation.

I wouldn't mind so much if the coalition just said: Australia has no  
pressing concern with broadband right now, everything is OK and the  
Labor government is just wasting money, anyway the private sector is  
working fine.

But what they are saying instead is: "We think that broadband is an  
issue and we think something needs to be done.  We have a vague plan  
to give billions of dollars to the people who haven't performed up  
till now, to fix the problem somehow.  And this is a much better plan  
than the Government's plan."

With no costings, no addressing of the underlying issues, how is this  
not a huge waste of money?  Also, fighting the NBN badly like this  
seriously dilutes their credibility on issues that we really need them  
to fight like Conroy's filter.


>
>> *taxes
>> *superfunds
>> *private investors
>>
>> Those in favour of the NBN could deman that their super fund
>> invests.
>>
>> Marghanita
>
>
>
> -- 
> Kim Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
> T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
> mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request