[MM_Access_Decision access=’false’]news Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has issued a scorching statement on Labor’s track record in building the National Broadband Network, declaring that the three-year NBN rollout plan delivered last week was “a duplicitous and ham-fisted attempt” to conceal its failure to deliver.
On Thursday last week, Chief Executive Officer of NBN Co, Mike Quigley, in the presence of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese, launched the first major stage of NBN Co’s roll-out plans at a press conference in Sydney. The plan disclosed in detail the deployment of fibre and wireless broadband infrastructure to 3.5 million premises in 1500 communities in every state and territory in Australia, by 2015.
In reaction, Turnbull issued a statement claiming that for the past five years Labor’s message on broadband had been ‘trust us’. Yet, in that time, hardly 5000 Australian households had actually received better broadband, he said.
Pointing out that the NBN Co was up to a year behind its targets according to its own 2010 plans, Turnbull’s contention was that the plan did not contain a forecast either of how many households and businesses would actually be able to connect to the NBN fibre by 2015 or, would actually be connected.
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[MM_Access_Decision access=’true’]
news Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has issued a scorching statement on Labor’s track record in building the National Broadband Network, declaring that the three-year NBN rollout plan delivered last week was “a duplicitous and ham-fisted attempt” to conceal its failure to deliver.
On Thursday last week, Chief Executive Officer of NBN Co, Mike Quigley, in the presence of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese, launched the first major stage of NBN Co’s roll-out plans at a press conference in Sydney. The plan disclosed in detail the deployment of fibre and wireless broadband infrastructure to 3.5 million premises in 1500 communities in every state and territory in Australia, by 2015.
In reaction, Turnbull issued a statement claiming that for the past five years Labor’s message on broadband had been ‘trust us’. Yet, in that time, hardly 5000 Australian households had actually received better broadband, he said.
Pointing out that the NBN Co was up to a year behind its targets according to its own 2010 plans, Turnbull’s contention was that the plan did not contain a forecast either of how many households and businesses would actually be able to connect to the NBN fibre by 2015 or, would actually be connected.
Turnbull set forth statistics on NBN Co’s performance thus far, saying that between June 30th, 2011, and March 31st, 2012, the company’s fibre roll-out had reached only 657 additional premises, which worked out to just over 3 per working day. To reach the June 30th, 2012 roll-out targets in its current Corporate Plan, NBN Co would have to connect a further 137,000 premises in the next three months, that is, about 2090 per working day. Likewise, on March 31st, there would be 18,900 premises which would actually connect to the NBN fibre, but work would be expected to commence on a further 249,600 premises by the same date. Applying the same passed-to-commence ratio, only 250,000 premises would actually be connected to the network by 2015.
On the NBN’s progress, therefore, Turnbull said that the three-year roll-out plan announced by NBN Co and the Government was a “duplicitous and ham-fisted attempt” to conceal its failure of achieving its targeted connectivity.
However, not everyone was so negative about the NBN, in reactions which came last week to the three year rollout plan announcement. In a statement, Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam asked the Coalition ‘to abandon their dogmatic vow on how to “demolish” the NBN.’
“The Coalition clings to their half-baked scheme to basically halt the Network during construction and try to fill in the gaps with tin cans and string, but there comes a time when even the most fervent ideologue must face the facts,” he said. “Mr Abbott needs to recognise that the NBN is here to stay and the Australian people want it that way.”
“The officials and the workers who built this country’s copper network a century ago did a grand service to their nation, but that copper network can’t deliver the fast broadband the modern economy demands. Without this investment in our infrastructure, Australia will struggle to match world’s best standard for telecommunications.”
Ludlam pointed out that some federal Liberal MPs had clamoured to get the NBN in their electorates first, and Liberal state governments were beginning to push for priority. “We have a situation where MPs state and federal are paying attention to the local reality and want the NBN as soon as possible, while the Coalition’s top brass clings to their ideological hatred of public enterprise.”
National broadband provider iiNet also expressed support for the NBN’s three-year roll-out plan. Michael Malone, CEO, iiNet said: “We’ve always been strong supporters of the NBN because it brings faster, more reliable Internet to all Australians, no matter where they live.” About the large number of households that would get access to iiNet’s service, he remarked that the roll-out would provide an opportunity for iiNet to focus its attention on customers in areas previously disadvantaged by poor Internet coverage and lack of competition.
Image credit: Office of Malcolm Turnbull[/MM_Access_Decision]
Out of interest
Would be interested to see simple numbers to date
How much spent so far
how many connections
How many connections actually applied for service
How many dollars in income per service (total recurring income per connection)
Leigh,
Sure simple numbers are always fun, but the questions you’ve asked are pointless.
It is irrelevant how many connections there are at this stage as compared to how much has been spent.
These are currently all start up costs. Even Turnbull understands that with the Telstra deal, the number of connections will not be an issue for NBN Co.
And when the connections come, the cost for NBN Co for each of those connections will be minimal.
@TatteredRemnant, yes, statistics CAN be fun, so let’s see:
Around 1950, the Snowy Mountains Scheme was probably about 10% complete, so it would have been roughly at the same stage as NBN today.
So in 1950 did @Leigh’s grandparents refer to the considerable start-up cost of the Snowy at that point, and then declare it a total waste of money because it had not yet stored any water or generated any power?
They probably did, based on the waffle from the current generation.
Can I trust the Coalition not to sell out to Telstra?
$85 per line wholesale, baby!
i put more trust in Labors plan to deliver me modern services than i can trust the (very skimpily detailed) Coalition alternative to do so. as the article indicates, several local and state Liberal MPs certainly put more trust in the Labor plan also!
as for the politics, i trust Labor FAR MORE than i trust Mr. Turnbulls boss, and what he would bring as alternative PM. for all Labors faults, and there are many, they were at least willing to listen and modify policy under negotiation with the independents, rather than ‘No, no, no, no no, no”. imo someone willing to negotiate is more likely to get it right in the end than the militant ‘this is how its going to be, and we wont accept any other input’ brigade. that is not in Tonys DNA, and such an inflexible leader is not who i want running this show.
if you see problems with the policy, negotiate, raise amendments etc, and improve it. you will get more credit from the electorate and you will have a better policy outcome than the nebulous mess the current ‘No, this instead’ proposal will.
Seems Turnbull is actually arguing that the NBN should be rolled out quicker. Brilliant. It’s about time these coalition clowns got behind the project and realised it is the best option for Australia.
LOL, I wish could up-vote you Hubert :)
I bet the rollout of fiber is a lot more popular than electricity was, and even if the NBN uptake is only as fast as electricty would you claim it as a failure ?
1904: a power station at Pyrmont began to generate power for the people of Sydney;
1927: 34 per cent of homes in Australia were electrically wired, with the most popular electrical appliance being the clothes iron! (*)
It amazes me that the coallition has so consistently tried to damage and impede the development of Australian infrastructure, why is the coalition so afraid of invest in Australia’s future ?
*) http://www.energex.com.au/switched_on/electric_energy/electric_history_australia.html
Why invest in Australia’s future when you can play BS politics?
ITis obviouse that labor can’t be trusted with the multy billion dollars NBN “,they’ve already stuffed up on every other policy that they”ve carried out, so what makes anybody think that this highly expensieve white elephant is going to be any different. wene there was cheaper, and just as good other options available?
Yes, there were cheaper options available, but none of them were as good as majority FTTH. to claim any of the oppositions proposals were as good as FTTN and cheaper is simply untrue.
“ITis obviouse that labor can’t be trusted with the multy billion dollars NBN “,they’ve already stuffed up on every other policy that they”ve carried out,”
It is obvious that ignorant people dont try and justify their claims.
A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position.[1] To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
Benson, if you have a minute, can you please:
name one policy the ALP Government has “already stuffed up on”;
why the NBN is a “white elephant”; and
the alternative options that are “cheaper, and just as good”
Maybe because they are not carrying out the policy? They have put together an external team of highly experienced people (NBNCo) who have put together these sorts of networks many times before, and that team is outsourcing the construction work to other companies who have built these sorts of networks many times before. The exact same companies who would have built the network if private enterprise decided to do it. Yet somehow, because it’s the governments money it is doomed to fail?
It gets increasingly frustrating to see the NBN debate dominated by people who recite Liberal talking points without a shred of critical, independent thought.
What Labor supporters fail to realise is that everything has a cost. If NBN cost was $5 than i would happily pay it for you, if it cost $100,000,000,000 i doubt anyone would support future tax payers paying the bill. So what we argue is how much of a loss is acceptable. I for one want to make sure that every tax payers dolloar is is being used wisely as to minimise waste.
Tax payer dollars? Can you point to where in the budget the tax payer’s dollars have been allocated for the NBN?
Yeah I’d like to see the correlation between tax dollars and the NBN too. Please share with us!
It amazes me that to this day, people complain about the cost of the NBN without having the slightest grasp of how its actually being paid for. The Coalition have done a very good job masking the facts on this one. Although I guess its also fair to criticise Labor for not explaining this properly to the public as well.
When people talk negatively about the cost of the NBN, they also fail to take into account the thousands of new jobs, industries and revenue streams it will generate. As though the network is going to just sit there idle with no one using it.
Am i wrong? If so i am fine with that, enlighten me then. The funding has to come from somewhere?
By the way we are not all experts on the subject and you shouldn’t expect everyone to be so. Like i said i just want to make sure that every single dollar is being used wisely.
Hux,
What they’re getting at is that it’s off budget. The reason it’s off budget is because it’s expected to make a profit and is therefore an asset, not an expense. See Renai’s article on this from earlier in the year.
http://delimiter.com.au/2012/02/08/coalition-missteps-on-nbn-budget-savings/
Also, it’s unrealistic to expect that “every dollar” is spent wisely. You can’t micromanage a government that way. Especially given no two people are likely to prioritise spending in the same way.
Justin.
@ hux (hope this comment isn’t considered too long), but from my layman’s understanding.
Using 2010/11 budgetary figures (rounded) individual income taxpayers like you and I (the poor hurting NBN funding taxpayers I keep hearing about) paid just $137B pa, in income tax, of all up total revenue $322B. But, all up budgetary expenditure was $355B, hence the government is running a budget deficit.
So as you see, “Income tax revenue” is only just over 40% of total revenue and is expended as part of budgetary allocations – not to fund the NBN (remember MT keeps telling us the NBN is “off budget”).
Refer here…
http://www.budget.gov.au/2010-11/content/overview/html/overview_37.htm
So as the government is running a budget deficit and in need of more funding, they issue bonds/securities etc (debt). These are sold as general issuance to help fund projects such as the NBN, with monies channeled into the likes of the Building Australia Fund. Then there’s the Contingency Fund (with iirc, $’s still there from the Telstra sale). These general bonds are available NOW, from the RBA/government, NOT from NBNCo as NBN specific bonds. There is also the opportunity to buy units in managed bond funds.
Interestingly Aussie bonds are sold world wide and due to our current economic standing, are apparently quite popular with overseas investors. This equates to off shore money, not taxpayer or even Aussie money in a lot of cases, in fact funding OUR infrastructure, such as the NBN.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/government-goes-global-to-raise-3b-needed-for-national-network-20110710-1h91o.html
http://www.rba.gov.au/fin-services/bond-facility/
Now, as opposed to these governmental bond issuances which are currently paying the NBN equity, if still around in 2015, I believe NBNCo plan to offer investors the chance to buy specific NBN bonds, as outlined in the corporate plan. Where they again expect most interest to come from overseas investors. So, NBNCo also plan to actually bring further investment dollars to our shores, to help pay for “our NBN” directly!
http://www.nbnco.com.au/assets/documents/nbn-co-corporate-plan.pdf
This is my opinion/understanding of how the funding is occurring.
@hux
Let me simplify all of that if I might…
The taxpayers are buying shares in the NBNCo, and the NBNCo are using that money to build the network.
Over the next 20 years, NBNCo will repay that money plus 7% interest…
Thanks for the responses. I assumed that the NBN was just another Pink Bats whereas now to me it seems clearly not
Hux,
In 10 years’ time, NBN Co will be one of the most valuable assets that Australian taxpayers will own.
Think of it as a Sovereign Wealth Fund, except with only one investment – a wholesale fibre telecommunications network.
“So what we argue is how much of a loss is acceptable.”
Who said there will a loss ?
Telstra (telecom) was run by the federal government, and years later privatized for $50 billion, the government is investing half the proceeds of telstra privatization into NBNco to do it again.
Just another day in the life of lying Labor. The cover up by Julia and her Union front bench buddies continues by clinging to power at the expence of every day working Australians. The issue of Craig Thompson, another debacle and lies. The list is never ending, but as the Russians once said after shooting down a Korean Airline Flight 007 with 269 aboard in 1983, “In time you will forget.”
How true and gullible the true believers of Labor can be! With the elections over 12 months away, Julia still has the chance of bringing this country to it’s knees.
Yes and keep in mind Gippsland is an electorate that has consistently voted for the coalition for the last thousand years yet they are the ones that not only make the most noise in Victoria when it comes to infrastructure but make even more noise when it comes to the NBN (something they want). What’s wrong? Not enough pie? Do not worry your precious head about it NBNco will update their rollout plans just for you I’m sure. In the meantime you can save the paid political shill comments for Andrew Bolts blog.
Wow. Just wow. You’ve managed to leap from delays borne of the protracted negotiations with Telstra to the downing of KAL 007.
I think we’ve set a new low in trollish absurdity.
Gwyntaglaw you might find this comment interesting: http://www.jeremyyoung.ws/153/dont-let-julia-fool-ya/#comment-1230
Here again: http://www.clickart.com.au/haveyoursay_pd/index.html
:-)
Are you trying to say he pastes all around the place using that as his argument? Obviously, unlike as the Russians once said after shooting down a Korean Airline Flight 007 with 269 aboard in 1983, “In time you will forget.”, you didn’t.
Well he also has the people vote how their parents vote argument which has some merit… I mean that would explain Gippsland after all :-)
I don’t have a clue what my parents vote. I don’t prefer Holden or Ford either. How un Australian of me ;)
Oh and I can’t stand football.
yer going to have to qualify that one – the round ball, the meat mountains, the meat mountains wit slightly different numbers on field, or the aerial pingpong?
i like the AFL but the rest can take a hike!
NFI how my parents vote, and not a holden/ford type either. but how all that gets to a linkage to the KAL flight is beyond me. must be the old labor=left=commies=soviet apparatchik canard again…. seconded on the troll absurdity. we dont have like buttons here, but id LOVE a report one.
I don’t like any of them. How can you like AFL? Do you think the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was a good thing? (Hey they are linked just as much as the KAL flight and the Labour party are ;) )
“The list is never ending, but as the Russians once said after shooting down a Korean Airline Flight 007 with 269 aboard in 1983, “In time you will forget.””
I could not agree more dear sir!
I mean 3 terms of the Howard Government where he axed funding to most essential services and infrastucture such as Hospital and Roads & Transport. Privatising and setting into place the massive monopoly beast that is Telstra which leads us to todays NBN “issue”. “Baby overboard” drama…
Oh and since you people like to bring up all the “tax” problems Labor has apparently burdened us all with… we’re still living w/ one of the biggest all encompassing Tax legislation to the whole populace – 10% GST which was introduced by the LIBERALS.
All these and more.. and all it took for a majority of people was one term udner Labor to sweep it all under the rug.
And why should we trust Turnbull? He has been caught multiple times lying to the public in regards to the NBN. He is intelligent to know he was wrong, this mission he is on must kill the NBN must be killing him. Unable to come up with a real debate, he manipulates the facts, to give misinformation, when he knows the NBN is the only feasible option.
+ 1
+2
+3
I’d trust Labor ahead of the Noalition any day of the week. Mr Rabbit has already told us we can’t believe what he says and Turd-bull is just his puppet.
The CLP said we shouldn’t trust Quigley because he work for a company accused of bribery I say we shouldn’t trust Turnbull because he worked for one of the companies who brought us the GFC.
How many telephones were in use within the first year or so during the first deployment of copper services in Australia?
One presumes that it was 90% saturation overnight, because clearly that’s an entirely achievable outcome.
It never ceases to amuse me how Liberal and Coalition stalwarts manage to simultaneously argue that it’s both a white elephant and yet isn’t being rolled out fast enough.
How can you roll out something faster if you wouldn’t otherwise have it?
Meanwhile, the Liberal government in Victoria has recently (and once again) had a big ol’ whinge about how they’re not being loved by the NBN fast enough. The very same clowns whom are in a party where the NBN is not an option.
Total joke.
The NBN funding is investment with a return. It is not just lost tax dollars rammed down Telstra’s throat to somehow make them behave, under some Coalition scheme that’s about ten years out of date.
Coalition plan ironically “costs” more due to the lack of any return. Ever.
So please, bang on about how your tax dollars, that you pay irregardless of whatever the Government decides to use it for (yes, irregardless, I think it’s an appropriate use) are somehow worse off under the NBN and please continue to ply a bullsh*t line that ignores the great irony that the Coalition think only to spend, not to invest.
Was talking about this with a friend the other day. First telephone exchange went into Melbourne in 1879. By 1901, there were 33,000 telephone users across Australia. 33,000… Over 1/3rd of those specifically in Melbourne and Sydney CBD regions. Businesses basically, very little personal use. 33,000 after 22 years of first rolling out…
Every major utility rollout in Australia has had a slow uptake. The only difference with the NBN is that it becomes a forced utility sooner rather than later.
Something else to consider. Even if someone doesnt use the FTTH for internet, they will still need to connect if they want a landline phone. They will still be a stat as a NBN user.
This is one of those things I’ve been meaning to look up forever. Very interesting. Certainly puts the NBN roll-out in perspective.
“Turnbull set forth statistics on NBN Co’s performance thus far, saying that between June 30th, 2011, and March 31st, 2012, the company’s fibre roll-out had reached only 657 additional premises, which worked out to just over 3 per working day.”
When I saw this, I gasped at the chutzpah of such garbage. I haven’t got the exact figures to compare, but I’m sure that one figure includes satellite services while the other doesn’t. Whatever the distortion, it doesn’t change the smarmy cynicism of it all – expecting people to fall for such cheap, shoddy tricks.
Turnbull has debased himself with this kind of carnival barker-esque carry-on.
The only thing Labor ever did that was worthwhile was the NBN. At some point the country does need to lay fibre cable to the homes. The new cable will be fast enough to last 50 years probably as it can be upgraded with the software/hardware on either end of it to be faster and faster as technology progresses. And they put a monopoly on it so it can’t lose money. Of course leave Labor to build it and it will take twice as long and cost 3x as much. I hope the Liberals get hold of it next but finish it without some of the waste and mismanagement Labor are known for.
“I hope the Liberals get hold of it next but finish it without some of the waste and mismanagement Labor are known for”.
I’m sure the coalition will proceed with all the sparkling speed, effiiency and effectiveness that they are famous for re the tech/telecoms sector… we all remember with abiding affection the achievements of Alston, Cooney and that guy who sold the coalitions policy so well last election… now what was his name? Oh yeah, Tony Smith, wotaguy!
“Of course leave Labor to build it and it will take twice as long and cost 3x as much”
A couple of points here…
1. NBNCo is building it, not the government (any government).
2. You can’t possibly want the political party that is too stupid to see the NBN’s benefits taking control of the country’s direction, can you??
After working so hard to delay NBN legislation it amazes me that the LNP would have the brass to place the blame for this all on the Labour Party.
Amazes me that people keep referring to the fact that they are behind the corporate plan. they are behind the corporate plan because the corporate plan ASSUMED they would get access to the telstra ducts….which they did, but about a year later than planned (in the corporate plan) (from memory @ 6:50am, please correct me if this is incorrect).
Hardly a pro- Labor person here, but I dont understand where the slogans keep coming from.
“White elephant” -> Where? No one has denied it costs money. No one has denied it is a big long project. The only way it could become a white elephant is if the Liberal party took power and Cancelled it. Then it would be a white elephant.
Waste of Money: -> How? What about the Alcoa Smelter deal, where we subsidise the electricity costs to below production cost of a private smelter, built a long distance away from generating plant. No one objects to that. The proposed “Nanny Scheme” -> 2 Billion to provide live in home nannies….how is that not a waste of tax payer funds?
As for the liberal “Private sector will build it if there was a need”: Hasnt happened yet. Up until the NBN was announced and it was made a requirement, Estates were still being built with copper phones. No one was “putting in the new fibre”. Hell, Telstra\Optus werent expanding their HFC networks. ADSL is already at the limit, and most estates built in growth areas were placed on RIM systems.
Wireless: Go look up the physics, then come back. it may be the most popular by device (as we count every mobile\ipad\wireless connection), however look at the proportion of data movement. Despite being the most popular, they have a fraction of the total data transferred across, Vs Fixed line.
“Fibre to the node, not the home”: This WAS the original Labour NBN plan. Liberals blocked it, but turnbull still wields this one out every now and then and claims its the better solution. New plan, FTTH -> Pushed through, No private sector was able to build it per the tender process (admitadly cancelled by the Govt), Telstra didnt even submit a legit bid..
*rant off*
All im saying is: Perhaps people should read first before trolling with Liberal Slogans.
The NBNCo has said there is 12 months from work starting in an area to that area being ready for service. The three year plan therefore represents areas that are ready for service from 2013 to 2016 (not 2015). Areas that are started today will not be ready for service until April 2013. Only areas that are started in the next 6 months are going to be ready for service before the next election. How many premises will be able to get an NBN service at the next election and how many will have signed up? Those are the numbers the Coalition will be shouting in the run up to the election.
Abbott, Turnbull and Howard would have voted again the Harbour Bridge too. And where would we have been then?
The Liberal party are like a bumch of drones, same old same old.
Lets be real Turnbull under a Liberal government there will be no NBN, the whole project will be scrapped, nothing will be done at all for another 3 years as your dismantle all the contracts, pay out companies, and rewrite your own water downed NBN. This is what you infact will deliver to the Australian people. NOTHING !!! how is that progress? it’s not it’s total BS.
I think Turnbull has a point. But wait there’s more…
I also think we can’t trust him and his party either.
We can’t trust politicians period, no matter which party they represent because they all have vested interests, of which I’m sure all of us to some degree, are opposed to and agree with, in regards to each party.
Being so, all we can do is vote for those who offer the nation the best option at the time. Don’t be a sheep and just vote for the same party every election ’cause I always did, daddy always did and his daddy always did – said with a southern US drawl…
As such the NBN is very important infrastructure for Australia and Australians and for all the stubborn wankers Conroy is with his stupid filter (again pandering to vested interests) he has done a sterling job with NBN imo.
He has mapped out a comprehensive plan with very few holes, which rids us of the incumbents stranglehold, gives to those who do not have, promotes retail competition, future proofs us (as much as anything currently can), is funded via investment dollars, will pay for itself and will become a profitable asset.
Gee he must be a genius. Because on one flight, on the back of a fucking envelope (as the critics will swear occurred) he has easily surpassed years of opposition policy and planning and created an encompassing network, which the opposition could now, only dream of.
No wonder they “need” to can it!
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