NBN plays election ping pong

Published on the 14/06/2016 | Written by Beverley Head


NBN rollout by Labor party

Just weeks before Australia heads to the ballot box, the Labor party has announced that if elected 2 million more homes and businesses will get high speed broadband, with more to follow…

The National Broadband Network has already been a high profile election issue, with federal police raids to identify the source of media leaks about NBN Co cost blow outs taking place shortly after the election was called. There were also accusations of a breach of caretaker provisions when NBN’s chairman Ziggy Switkowski published an article defending the raids.

Now less than three weeks out, the Labor party has promised to roll out a fibre to the premises NBN solution to two million more homes and businesses than feature in the current Coalition Government sanctioned network and claims it can cap the total funding to the NBN at $57 billion and have the network completed by the end of June 2022.

It has also committed, if elected, to commissioning a report to work out how best to transition people with an existing fibre to the node connection to a higher speed fibre to the premises link in the future.

The claims and counter claims by both major parties are like a game of election ping-pong with the NBN playing the role of ball.

According to Labor leader Bill Shorten; “Malcolm Turnbull promised he could build a second rate copper NBN for $29.5 billion. This has now blown out to up to $56 billion.

“He also promised everyone in Australia would have access to the NBN this year. Currently less than 20 per cent of Australians have access to the NBN—a long way short of the 100 per cent he promised.

“Worst of all, many Australians are getting a slower, second rate copper NBN that will not meet their needs into the future.

“Fast broadband creates jobs. But you can’t have an innovation boom while you are still buffering.”

Prime Minister dismissed the policy as an example of “Shorten-omics” which he described as being short on economics.

However he and his Government are doing little to dispel the gathering perception that the current NBN is a cut price lower quality version of the network Australia needs to really fulfil the PM’s ambitions of being seen as an innovation nation.

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