I suggest that there has been a bit of an inverse rule operating- as machines and connection speeds have gotten faster, people have expanded file sizes at an even faster rate.
For example A lot of Jpeg (and PDF) files these days are ridiculously large for screen only display needs.
Email protocols may soon need to be changed to some thing like FTTP.
The main new use that the system could be used for is internet TV, whether this is such a pressing national need is a bit doubtful.

My understanding of this hugely expensive NBN is that no commercial plan has been undertaken. At the amount envisaged, there has to be a cost by users to repay the capital invested. The question that I ask myself is, what number of users will be prepared to pay for it? Obviously that are many people who will have a use for the high speed, but I doubt many in the domestic area will want to spend the money or even many commercial outlets who are content with present speeds.

I think private enterprise should be responsible for this undertaking. They will then establish on commercial grounds the feasibility and economics of such a project, Otherwise, we shall just have more waste by this Gillard government who seem to have no concept when it comes to spending other people's taxes.

If Telstra had been split right back in the beginning, would we be doing this at all?
Perhaps we just paying for the overinflated share price we (collectively) got for selling Telstra as effectively a monopoly?

To summarise,

For all the benefits that Julia Gillard is touting for the NBN, all of them can be met by the 12Mbps offering of the coalition for less than 14% of the cost.

At the launch of the oppositions policy there was the figure of $1000.00 if you wanted to use the new commercial networks. $1000.00 is about what it costs for cable TV.

It sounded very much like the opposition proposed to pay commercial operators to roll out cable TV and then internet would be available as a carrot to join cable TV.

Where does the bandwidth for the wireless side come from? Possible from free to air being put out of business. Was this policy announced for the benefit of the Australian people or Mr Murdoch?

The applications for this technology have yet to be invented.
This will transform our society and our lives.
It will reverse the decline of country town. Turn a lot of them into high tech production hubs.
It will allow our brightest minds to shine.
It will attract the brightest minds in IT to our shores.

It is the future and the sooner we get it the sooner we can become the high tech country we should be.