What is wrong with upgrading the backbone, but letting the customer pay for the last bit based on their needs?

I get 1.5Mb/s and can do everything that Labor's NBN supposedly can do for me.

I am not looking to have 100 simultaneous HD channels running.

Comparing the plans to mobile phones, the coalition's is like a blackberry, the NBN is the iphone costing 10x as much. The iphone is sexier and cooler, but functionally no different.

I would say if you want an iphone, buy it yourself.

Diver Dan,
I consider your out look on rural Australia as all the evidence i need to know you have no idea what you are talking about. The real wealth of this country is in the rural areas and the more remote the bigger the profits. EG, mining wheat farming. To be honest why don't the obese, unmotivated gits in the cities get off there butts and pay for their own internet up grades. after all they don't need the internet anyway do they.

Shadow minister,
The comparison is that the lib's are offering analog and the NBN is state of the art with unlimited future potential. I am greatful your blind hate of anything that labor does isn't running the country.

Is this article a joke?
Quite frankly, it's such dross that I am amazed that somebody actually seriously gives him a publishing deal on a book on, of all things- HUMAN RIGHTS, despite all of the other dross he churns out.

As some of you have already connected his moronic 'luxury' analogy to other sophisticated information and communication technologies, I have only this to add:
"Ten years ago, few people spent any time on the internet. The world was probably a better place."
Oh yes, the 80s and 90s were so fantastic, high scale corruption that nobody was aware of unless it was reported prime time, incredible amounts of ignorance due to dependence on the TV to provide current information that books in the library (or bookshops) not provided, and the only ways to form understandings on conduct, culture and events was either word or mouth, or obeying cultural norms from the TV. Free speech, expression of ideas and cross-cultural interaction a whimper compared to now. Golden days indeed.

"Even now, it is possible to lead a full, complete and successful life without the internet, and certainly you can do it without super fast internet."
Unless you own a business, work in finance, banking, investment, manufacturing or logistics, education and research, did business internationally, or you felt the need to understand any social or political groups independently of 3rd parties or actually physically being present or would fork out airline tickets.

"For proof, just look at independent federal MP Tony Windsor. He is one of the two most powerful men in the country. He has admitted that he has never used a computer in his life."
And it took him almost two weeks to inefficiently decide which political party to support, holding the nation's governance hostage. What a guy.

Oh, also, that whole "people use internet for superfluous recreation and porn" is FALSE- it is mostly used, according to virtually every credible chart, for business and research.

It's not nice to lie Mirko.

""" But what about positive educational outcomes? Well, on balance there probably are none. The research suggests that the internet is probably making us dumber. """

I agree with you, a country person with no internet would never have posted a more stupid article than this. I would suggest you follow your own tripe and get off the internet now before you lose what little intelligence you have left.

nairbe, ponder!
Australia: The Farming Basket Case and the NBN

Australian farming, once the pride and backbone of the national economy, continues unabated to die a lingering death from a terminal disease brought on by lack of innovation, lack of investment, lack of Government research and a farming debt crisis. As small farms slide relentlessly from the edge of productivity and profit, into the abyss of Government handout, farming in rural communities has been reduced to a lifestyle choice.

The temporary phenomena in transposition of land values to equity holdings are of temporary relief to underservicing of the farm debt. With an anticipated drop in farm values, farm debt will become a bigger national crises than it currently is.

Into this cauldron add the political death of the once powerful farmers voice, the National Party, replaced by a handful of disaffected Independents, divorced from the old guard and their reliance on the Liberal Party, and the picture is complete: Except for the NBN.

Against all economic logic, the Gillard Government proposes an injection of billions of dollars, not into rural research and development, not investment into rail and air services, nor dams nor roads, but into an enterprise of such low priority, the re-cabling of rural Australia, in order to facilitate a superfast internet service of doubtful and limited use to farming communities.

If such vast quantities of money are available for infrastructure investment, then political debate is essential to determine the order of priorities for such investment.

Those small farms feed you dan. If they go what will you eat? Food from China fertilized with human feces?

What happens when diesel prices force the ships off the water and the greeny's scream blue murder if you power them on good old fashioned coal powered steam or you know that other blasphemous word, nuclear. What will you eat then?

A strong communications, data network is an essential commodity in a modern world as our own and by pushing it out to the bush we can encourage people to move out into small communities and reduce the pressure on our cities. If done properly, it could resurrect some of those failing country communities which would then encourage young people to stay on the farm to feed us good wholesome quality food and not that cheap crap from China, or even worse GMO poisons from Monsanto!

The city cannot survive without the country and you're a fool if you think otherwise.