[LINK] Conroy, Turnbull clash over NBN cost

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2010/s3025517.htm

> Well, two politicians with diametrically-opposed positions on the  
> issue are the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital  
> Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, and the Shadow Minister for  
> Communications and Broadband, Malcolm Turnbull.

...

> STEPHEN CONROY: Well, Malcolm claims all the time he's a techhead.  
> Malcolm, if he's a real techhead and is gonna be honest will admit  
> that fibre is the best future-proof technology going around. It's  
> not gonna run out in 10 years, otherwise Malcolm's gonna be claiming  
> next that all those submarine cables built of fibre, all those  
> interstate routes built of fibre are gonna have to be dug up and  
> replaced by wireless.
>
> Fibre is the best future-proof technology. It works undersea, it  
> works in the trunk roots and it will work to people's homes.


....

> TONY JONES: OK - Malcolm Turnbull - well, no, I'm actually running  
> this discussion, so, if you don't mind.

....

> TONY JONES: Well, hang on a sec! Hold on, hold on, hold on. You've  
> raised the question of the costs per household, Malcolm Turnbull.  
> Now, I think you've written it'll be $4,000 per household. Tony  
> Abbott say it'll be $5,000 per household. The visiting Mexican  
> billionaire Carlos Slim Helu say it'll be $7,000 per household.  
> Who's right?
>
> MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, I mean, you can just work it out. You can  
> divide through the number of households by 40 - divide the number of  
> households into $43 billion and you get the answer.
>
> TONY JONES: Well, no, you don't. We actually did that. Your figure,  
> your $4,000 figure multiplied by 8.57 million households comes out  
> at $34 billion, so I'm wondering how you came up with your figure to  
> start with.
>
> MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, I'm not sure whether that - where that  
> figure came from, but it's $43 billion over around - over around  
> nine million households and businesses. So ...
>
> STEPHEN CONROY: But that's a completely false representation. This  
> is investing in an asset that will last up to 40 years. If you take  
> even Malcolm's $4,000 and stretch that across 40 years, it's about  
> 13 cents a day.

...

> STEPHEN CONROY: Malcolm was asked two days ago in a trade  
> publication if a cost/benefit analysis came back unambiguously yes,  
> it was positive, would you still back it, and Malcolm wouldn't. This  
> is just opposition for opposition's sake.


....

> TONY JONES: OK. Malcolm Turnbull, I'm gonna stay with you for a  
> moment. Tony Abbott says no-one would be more delighted than he if  
> you can utterly demolish the National Broadband Network. I mean, do  
> you take him literally, because in three years' time, if this  
> government survives for three years, maybe 30 or 40 per cent of this  
> broadband network will already been built.
>
> So what are you going to do if you come to office after that? Are  
> you going to dig it up? Are you going to re-incorporate it into some  
> sort of private plan? What is your plan? What's your policy for what  
> to do with what's already been put in place?
>
> MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, Tony, that's a - that will depend on how  
> much has been built, where it is and what its value is. The fact is  
> that - look, I'm not interested in demolishing the NBN. I'm  
> interested in exposing the hollowness of the Government's  
> justification for the NBN, and that, I suppose, will demolish their  
> shabby and empty argument.
>
> But as far as the infrastructure is concerned, whatever has been  
> built, if we come into government, we will obviously have to make  
> the very best possible use of it.
>
> TONY JONES: OK, very briefly then, will you freeze the project there  
> so that there are two Australias - the one who got the rollout and  
> the one whose didn't? The ones with fibre-to-the-home and the ones  
> who don't have it? Or will you continue the project?



-- 
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