The NBN Enron like financing was another wonderful example of Labor lack of transparency incompetence and corruption.

Comrade Conroy should be taken out and publicly flogged for this debacle.

I couldn't agree more SM.

If any one is capable of turning this charade into some thing meaningful it is Malcolm Turnbull.

Whilst I agree that hte NBN is vital national infrastructure the idea of FttP seems like an overreach. By all means have it available for those who really need it but many will never need that capacity. It is more important have the backbone of the system in place in a timely manner and at an affordable price. It is looking more and more likely that we will see quite extraordinary speeds for short run copper in the near future.

Dear Paul,

Your beloved Labor party lost this election, or at least did not receive my vote, because in its desire for a "great new world" and digital dreams, which I do not share, it had no second thoughts about stomping on others and taking away the poor man's lamb.

Whatever they wanted for themselves and for their friends, WHY DID THEY ALSO HAD TO TAKE AWAY MY COPPER ANALOGUE CONNECTION? It is either cruelty, stupidity or both. I didn't tell anyone not to have a fibre-optic digital connection if they so wish, but they in turn did attempt to impose their way of life on me. That is not acceptable and so long as they continue to threaten to bring their digital network over to my home, taking away the phone line I am happy with, they will continue to not get my vote.

Paul,
Good article, I couldn’t agree more.
The new Government has no trouble at all wasting money on road tunnels and second airports. I can’t understand their animosity to the NBN.
Fully implemented, the NBN will be of immense value to regional areas in particular. Operating a business away from capital cities involves lots of travel, accommodation costs. Access to customers and suppliers is difficult.
Educational and health services to remote areas will benefit hugely from it.
Core infrastructure such as this should not be able to be influenced by privatised bodies such as Telstra. It should remain in Public ownership. Telstra should be re-nationalised and folded into the NBN or perhaps transformed into a more enlightened provider such as the sadly defunct Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) which oversaw the introduction of (at the time), radically new communications systems in Australia

Imperial, the current government did not have an animosity to the NBN as such. What they did have a problem with, as did many of the voting public, was the way in which it was set up and managed. Appointments like labour mate Kaiser. The lack of any cost benefit analyses or succinct business plans have given us the mess we currently have. The poor performance of the board, the politicisation of the roll out locations and general mismanagement have put the whole process well behind schedule. At least now we may see some progress and I may have a chance of benefitting from it before I die.

Sparkyq,
When you say politicisation I presume you are referring to Tony Windsor’s insistence on rolling out in regional areas first? I can appreciate the chagrin of city dwellers but it is a rare event for a regional area to have any service first and often never get the service, e.g digital radio. Regional people are the ones who will most benefit from the NBN.
I agree the fibre to a node will speed up introduction of the service and provided it is done in a way that can be subsequently upgraded, is probably not a bad thing.

Hi Imperial, No, I wasn't thinking so much about Windsor but Conroy's edict that it should be introduced into marginal labor seats ahead of anywhere else.

And you don't need to tell me the disadvantages of living in a regional are. That is where I am. Not so long ago we lost our broadband for 5 days. Telstra (no other company is available here)were hopeless(too many excuses to list). If the outage had ocurred in the city my bet is it would have been restored in no time flat.