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quink523 karma

I can't wait for The Daily Telegraph tomorrow.

"Rudd colludes with online fascists", with Hitler moustache and all.

quink50 karma

Just IMO, the NBN should have been treated the same way as basic infrastructure in the traditional sense. Despite the federal level being charged traditionally with communications there's a pretty straightforward interpretation of the constitution that basically says that the federal level could only be responsible for setting standards, licencing and maybe throw some money at it through explicit subsidies.

And so just treat it the same as electricity, water, gas and sewerage - just shove it all off to the local councils/water/electricity bodies and let them deal with it. Don't even let the states have the opportunity to screw it up.

While it's done brilliantly with Australia Post, the federal level (the Liberals really) has proven itself unable to deal with last-mile telecommunications over the past three decades and for decades to come yet. And the synergies with electricity/water distribution networks, both capex and opex, are undeniable.

This'll also bring down the POIs to a saner level and you've got the backhaul market separate for companies/organisations that feel it necessary to compete there.

At least this way if the coalition gets into power again it's out of their hands to screw it up all over again and it'll be unable for them to privatise the lot without screwing around on a council by council basis.

(i.e. in the Hunter Region it's the state-owned Hunter Water that does the last mile water supply, and Ausgrid the last-mile electricity. Start up NBN Co Hunter Region, owned 30% by Hunter Water, 30% by Ausgrid, 30% by the councils in the area and 10% by NBN Co, which gets a disproportionate share of the revenue/profit for the first 15 years. Let's see the next Abbott take that mess apart).

quink42 karma

Also, can you find us on the list here or are we just too far down to scroll by now?

http://www.netindex.com/upload/allcountries/

quink29 karma

Amen, thank you for your reply. It was far, far too important a thing (even more important than you stated, it was the roads and streets) to ever be let into the hands of Murdoch and their proxies, Turnbull included.

One could make that argument against Labor as well, but your governance, including choosing Quigley as CEO, was as exemplary as anyone could ever have hoped for and it was a glimmer of hope that could have moved us beyond the lucky country curse.

And for fighting that battle that Australia owes you its thanks more than most in history. Unfortunately not to be expected from those who still use the phrase "Lucky Country" without a hint of irony, blinded by the rent-seekers like Murdoch.

But there was nothing in it for Murdoch, so here we are.