[LINK] Libs won't cancel NBN - Turnbull

[Kim Holburn]

On 2012/Jul/01, at 10:04 AM, Ross Kelso wrote:

> David
> 
> You say that:
> 
>> Handing the network to the private sector repeats the mistakes of the 
>> Telstra sale and of those states that sold the poles and wires of their 
>> electricity networks. The concept of natural monopoly may be heresy to 
>> the extreme Right, but that doesn't mean such monopolies don't exist. 
>> The Coalition demonstrates what history shows: that people don't learn 
>> the lessons that history teaches.
> 
> Whilst I realise that what you have said may be the current orthodoxy with
> much of the Link List discussion, but it does bear scrutiny.  For example, 
> what exactly was the mistake in privatising Telstra -

Not separating the wholesale and content parts of Telstra.  Actually maybe privatising it in the first place, thanks for asking and I did say maybe.  

> what lesson do we have to learn?  

Australia is a much larger and less densely populated country than almost any other.  If we want decent communications we have to do what previous Australians did: create government infrastructure.

> And once you have answered that, please tell me how 
> people are going to learn what ever lesson that is with regard to 
> regulating the grandest natural monopoly of them all, the NBN?

The grandest monopoly of all?  I doubt it.  What about water, sewerage, roads?  How has the great sell off of electricity gone?  Not so well I think.  Ask the Brits how the Thatcher adventure in privatising water went!

> 
> Regards
> 
> Ross Kelso
> 
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2012 13:40:13 +1000
>> From: David Boxall <david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au>
>> Subject: Re: [LINK] Libs won't cancel NBN - Turnbull
>> To: link at mailman.anu.edu.au
>> Message-ID: <4FEE751D.10000 at hunterlink.net.au>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>> 
>> On 29/06/2012 7:29 PM, Jan Whitaker wrote:
>>> [Since this is a 180deg. turnaround, not sure who to believe. ]
>>> ...
>> If Abbott decides there are no longer votes in opposing the NBN, then he 
>> won't oppose the NBN. Whether he's actually made that decision is the 
>> question. Beyond manipulativeness, he hasn't proven to be one of the 
>> world's great thinkers.
>>> ...
>>> Mr Turnbull said the Coalition now believes "all
>>> Australians should have access to fast and
>>> affordable broadband but that the NBN [Co] has
>>> gone about that objective in the single most
>>> expensive and time-consuming way possible."
>>> 
>>> Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde says the
>>> Coalition now accepts the NBN is necessary but
>>> differs in its funding model. Mr Turnbull
>>> believes the private sector, not the Government, should finance the project.
>>> ...
>> Which (assuming the basic premise of the article) is probably where the 
>> problems lie. The Coalition wants to do the job as cheaply as possible, 
>> then hand the network to the private sector.
>> 
>> The ultimate goal, unless I miss my guess, is fibre to the premises. 
>> Nothing else has the capacity to meet foreseeable demand. The question 
>> is timing; do we do it now or do we do it half-baked, then complete the 
>> job later? The latter is cheaper, only in the short term.
>> 
>> Handing the network to the private sector repeats the mistakes of the 
>> Telstra sale and of those states that sold the poles and wires of their 
>> electricity networks. The concept of natural monopoly may be heresy to 
>> the extreme Right, but that doesn't mean such monopolies don't exist. 
>> The Coalition demonstrates what history shows: that people don't learn 
>> the lessons that history teaches.
>> 
>> -- 
>> David Boxall                    |  Dogs look up to us
>>                               |  And cats look down on us
>> http://david.boxall.id.au       |  But pigs treat us as equals
>>                                                   --Winston Churchill
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
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Kim Holburn
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