Mikk,

Rudd's legacy will be roofing insulation, the BER rort, the health policy sham, and the mining tax back flip, with a subtext of grocery and fuel watch, and the internet censorship debacles.

When I first heard Kevin Rudd's promise of a NBN I must admit that I wondered why we needed one. Anyway, after what seems like years, there is still no sign of one being delivered... so I had already consigned it to the basket containing Kevin's other big promises that he has been unable to deliver.

Hindrance from our obstructionist senate driven by the Liberals and their mates hasn't made it any easier to get anything big done of course. But even the things that have been done have been done with amazing incompetence... such as the home insulation scheme. And the current argument over the mining super profits tax illustrates that Kevin and his government have much to learn about the wisdom of introducing unpalatable measures gradually, by stealth, over time.

So, Kevin and his government are in danger of losing the coming election. A pity, considering the high hopes we had for him after our last dose of the Liberals... but does it really matter? Whoever Kevin might be replaced with will still be a politician, driven and constrained by the same forces that govern Kevin, and sure to become embroiled in government fiascos of their own.

The National Broadband Network was the one policy that I actually admired the Rudd government for ... but even during the election campaign I began to hae me doots.

Just little things: like the then shadow communications minister claiming on an ABC radio interview that the NBN would deliver internet speeds up to 40% faster than currently available - 'that's 400 times faster!'.

Basic maths fail. I was saddened but not surprised that the interviewer didn't pick it up, either.

Then there was the infamous 'Laptops! Laptops! Laptops for everybody!' policy, and the tell-tale hemming and hawing about details that followed.

Then of course came Rudd in office and the litter of backflips and broken policies *that* entailed, plus the Christian Conservative Rudd's determination to saddle Australia's internet with a think-of-the-children filter, and the NBN starts to look more and more unlikely to come to fruition.

As a CONSTITUTIONALIST I always start of with the intentions of the Framers of the Constitution who desired not to follow suit with the USA but to keep telecommunication in hands of the commonwealth. I am not aware any referendum was held to approve the sale of Telstra. While Telstra as part of the Commonwealth was entitled to use underground pipes free of taxes one has to ask why as a private company should it be free of taxes in regard of underground cabling when it charges the Commonwealth billions of dollars to use its underground network system?
What we need to do is to go back to the origins of the constitution and we may just avoid of wasteful expenditure being it the insulation programs, the school building fiasco’s and many other things because I am still asking under what constitutional power was all this money thrown away? The proposed SUPER TAX is likewise unconstitutional as to be constitutionally valid it must be a tax that applies to the whole of the commonwealth, not just mining profits. Moment now we get it the (UNCONSTITUTIONAL) Northern Territory Intervention Act was to be against Northern Territory Aboriginals who allegedly couldn’t manage their own affairs but now it spread amongst all welfare recipients even those who are on old age pensions. Well that is what you get when you allow yourself hoodwinked. So the SUPER TAX now promoted against mining companies may soon be applied to every other business! Just don’t complaint I didn’t warn you!
.Mr G. H. Schorel-Hlavka