Following on from Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s use of an apparently flawed Economist Intelligence Unit report to attack the National Broadband Network, Greens communications spokesperson Scott Ludlam has issued the following statement:

Criticism of the National Broadband Network has become desperately unhinged, with the Coalition comparing the project to Cuba.

Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said Malcolm Turnbull had “entered the twilight zone” by dubbing the NBN ‘the telecommunications version of Cuba’.

“A large number of experts in information technology and communications – from the business world and from academia – have praised the NBN as a forward-thinking and significant development, but the Opposition continues to launch increasingly bizarre and desperate attacks on the project.”

“The Opposition has pounced on one aspect of a report from The Economist – regarding the level of public investment in the NBN – but ignored the overall conclusion which found the NBN is superior to the services in the United States and the United Kingdom. The ‘Economist Intelligence Unit’ is fanatically opposed to public investment in anything. If the ‘Intelligence Unit’ keeps publishing these wild-eyed neoliberal rants they may need to change their name to something else.”

“Australia is a vast country with low population density, yet Malcolm Turnbull continues to insist that we can provide good quality telecommunications infrastructure to all Australians on the cheap. There are 21 million people in this country and they don’t all live in the seat of Wentworth. We’re not going to deliver world-class telecommunications to them by cutting corners.”

We find it hard to disagree. The NBN policy has many flaws; but the Economist and Turnbull are not doing a particularly good job of highlighting them right now.

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1. Hubert Cumberdale
   Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:00 am | Permalink | Reply

   I think the desperation will become even more apparent as the Telstra vote date draws near and assuming the deal does go ahead expect the coaltion to crank it up another notch. The articles for The Australian are already written.

   • Michael Wyres
     Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:04 am | Permalink | Reply

     That’s exactly it.

     The Telstra shareholder vote is a mere seven days away – coincident timing for the launch of some more unashamedly headline friendly, misleading information?

     I think not.

   • Marcos Fiendopol
     Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:23 am | Permalink | Reply

     A lot of people will have voted already, the voting papers were sent out a few weeks ago. But it will be the institutional shareholders that determine the final outcome.

     • Renai LeMay
       Posted 11/10/2011 at 12:17 pm | Permalink | Reply

       I can’t see the institutional shareholders voting against Telstra’s deal with the NBN.

2. SMEMatt
   Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:08 am | Permalink | Reply

   You missed the best part Turnbulls quote

   “Cuba is the last communist state … I stand corrected, there is North Korea too,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

   He missed China, Laos and Vietnam.

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:21 am | Permalink | Reply

     heh

   • PeterA
     Posted 11/10/2011 at 12:41 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Don’t expect any pollies to go after China, after all they still pay us plenty of money for our resources.

   • Jerks
     Posted 11/10/2011 at 4:24 pm | Permalink | Reply

     If you honestly believe that China and Vietnam are true Communists states in this current point in time then I suggest you brush up on your Economics 101.

   • deteego
     Posted 12/10/2011 at 1:12 am | Permalink | Reply

     China is not technically a communist country (they are closer to a facist capitalist country), Vietnam is also technically not a communist country.

     Laos could be argued as communist, but it can be either way

3. Marcos Fiendopol
   Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:27 am | Permalink | Reply

   “We’re not going to deliver world-class telecommunications to them by cutting corners”

   He is right.
   The LNP wont have the money to build anything after they have paid out the NBN contracts.

4. SMEMatt
   Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:37 am | Permalink | Reply

   But they will be repay debt by selling down more assets. Then claim a budget surplus.

5. Michael Wyres
   Posted 11/10/2011 at 11:54 am | Permalink | Reply

   “Stop The Bytes”

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 11/10/2011 at 12:16 pm | Permalink | Reply

     lol

6. deteego
   Posted 12/10/2011 at 1:10 am | Permalink | Reply

   Wow a far left socialist party accuses the most respected economic and business research center in the world as being “right wing”

   *proceeds to slap face*

   • Australian Images
     Posted 12/10/2011 at 8:50 am | Permalink | Reply

     It appears as though “the most respected economic and business research center in the world” needs to brush up on their facts a little.

     They understated the premises covered by the NBN by almost 6 million (7.45 v 13), and they understated the maximum speed of the NBN by 9-fold (100Mbps v 1Gbps). If their report is based around such fundamental errors of fact, what hope is there for anything in it to be accurate?

     • deteego
       Posted 13/10/2011 at 1:47 am | Permalink | Reply

       The speed of which the NBN provides (especially above 100mbit) is irrelevant for their findings of their report, you would realize this if you read their summary

   • Pepe
     Posted 12/10/2011 at 8:50 am | Permalink | Reply

     “the most respected economic and business research center in the world”?

     say no more, apart from of course, rofl…

     • Bruce H.
       Posted 12/10/2011 at 10:31 am | Permalink | Reply

       Yes… No doubt these same economists worked for a variety of US and European banks and financial institutions, governments etc… widely respected for not causing the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, or lending in a lemming-like rush in the US sub-prime market, and to the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece & Spain)…. as you say…say no more :)
       (where’s the irony button on this keyboard again?)

       • deteego
         Posted 13/10/2011 at 1:46 am | Permalink | Reply

         Actually there was research documents in the economist that was predicting the GFC long before it happened, in fact many economists where, so I have no idea if this ignorant bashing

         • Pepe
           Posted 13/10/2011 at 8:23 am | Permalink | Reply

           so do you swear as gospel all of the economist’s views, or just the one’s which suit…?

           • deteego
             Posted 13/10/2011 at 10:40 am | Permalink | Reply

             Uh, Im not sure why you are blaming me, Bruce H made various biased, ignorant and cheap score point bashing points against the EIU over something he doesn’t even know about

             I don’t follow anything blindly, I was just pointing out that the EIU predicted things like GFC and European crisis, and that they are not completely partisan. Its not the EIU’s fault that governments didn’t listen to them, and you especially can’t stereotype that the same economists that worked for the government worked for the EIU

             Nice to see that you are drifting off topic again RS, how many nicknames do you have now?

   • Gwyntaglaw
     Posted 12/10/2011 at 11:06 am | Permalink | Reply

     Wow, “far left socialist party”… what is this party of which you speak?

     Only in the fervid dreams of the unhinged could Conroy be described as belonging to a party of a far left socialists.

     And spare us the “most respected…” PR puff garbonzo. They stuffed up their facts.

     • deteego
       Posted 13/10/2011 at 1:45 am | Permalink | Reply

       I was talking about the greens, you realize? If you, you know, you read the headline, he is the one the one making this rant

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