Over the weekend, Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull held an anti-filter event in his electorate, where he promised that the filter is now, “dead, buried and cremated, and if it shows any signs of revival it will then be exorcised”. Let’s hope he’s right.
The event, which was covered in depth by Renai LeMay over at Delimiter, also consisted of Turnbull claiming that Australia doesn’t want 100Mbps broadband, as you can see in the video below:
Also at the event were Justin Milne, former BigPond boss; Paul Fletcher, a member of the Government’s Cyber-Safety Committee; and Simon Shiekh from GetUp!. All criticised the filter, as you’d expect.
But now we’re left with a dilemma. The filter’s essentially dead in the water, but the NBN is still on the table, depending on who wins into government…
Bobbobboy
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 12:52 PMWhy would anyone belive the guy who was so left leaning his own party dumped him on issues of privacy and internet freedoms.
If Tony Abbott wins the election this country will move so far to the right its going to make Afghanistan in the 90s look like Disneyland.
Blake
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:04 PMYou know unless Family First and labor combined do get majority in the upper house I can’t ever see the filter getting through there.
With the greens holding the real balance of power in the senate and the liberals saying they will oppose it you could still vote labor in the lower house then independent/liberal in the upper and it would nicely hedge your bets.
Al
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:06 PMHe cans ppl who don’t use the internet making decisions on the filter in the first vid and then says that the NBN isn’t necessary well does he use the internet? Maybe in 2010 generally speaking we dont but copper has reached its limits and in 2020 i think we’ll be eternally grateful for the NBN.
censored
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:34 PMDon’t be so naive Lifehacker! Turnbull is a backbencher whose position is a personal one and does not speak for his party, let alone the right wing coalition (climate change anyone?). Now if youu could get Abbott to absolutely rule out support for any legislation which permitted the state to exercise any control whatsoever over internet access (and that wording is significant as ruling out the filter does not exclude other forms of control) then that would have some value – and even then I wouldn’t trust them.
Daniel
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:44 PMThey should have bitten their tongue. No filter and no NBN, or no filter and the NBN. Pretty easy choice now.
matt
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:49 PMyeah, its true about the NBN, except for one little thing: it isn’t being done for NOW, its being done for 5, 7 years time! the gov has already said it will take that long to roll out.
I’m sure if you look back 5, 7 years, a fair majority of people were still using dial up. now games, itunes ect, pretty much demands speeds 50 times that.
so its not so much about how relevant it is now… more, how relevant it will be when it’s done.
Digital distro movie rentals, games, music purchases ect. streaming on demand TV, cloud storage… it just goes on and on.
I do agree that better wireless is a more immediate priority though.
Ben Dy
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:59 PMWow! That’s the first intelligent point I’ve seen since the election was announced..
I’d vote Malcolm Turnbull over Abbott any day!
StevoTheDevo
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 8:39 AMHere, here!
I don’t like what Labor has done, but I couldn’t ever bring myself to willingly help elect Abbot…
Turnbull is the happy medium for me but the Liberal Backstabbers got to him just as the Labor Backstabbers got to Rudd.
Bring on the next election when Turnbull has his revenge!
Wozzzaaa
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:59 PMNever trust anything that comes out of a politicians mouth.
Anonimouse
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 2:00 PMI’d rather have a slow internet then a filtered internet. I’m happy with ADSL2 for my usage.
Abz
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 11:45 AMAnonimouse, you can easily get around the proposed internet filter, you can’t get around a slow broadband connection. I cannot believe how much hype has evolved around the proposed internet filter when solutions are already in place and working elsewhere in the world… we NEED to keep up with the rest of the world in terms of broadband speeds otherwise we will be struggling to adopt all the upcoming technologies and potential trading opportunities this inevitable fast broadband path will present us!
Andrew R
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 2:19 PMI think Malcolm is right, but dammit I want my 100Mbps fibre line. I do agree though, after speaking with lots of non-IT people, everyone wants the NBN because of the picture painted. There are however lots of homes and businesses that aren’t even interested in upping their dial-up, 512 or 1.5MB connections even when there are options.
The thing that scares me most is the path that the NBN plans are taking. Too cosy with Telstra, not exactly arms length from Labor. I fear we may end up with a very average solution for a lot of money. But dammit I want my fibre (or at least decent backhaul out of my suburb so that at 3pm when the teenagers get home it doesn’t drop to a crawl).
Graham Varney
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 2:27 PMTurnbull turns out to be only half an idiot. Business wins at 100Mbps.
mutatedwombat
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 2:39 PMFor me, it is not enough that the filter is dead. I need to punish the party that tried to force it on me, and the most effective way of doing that is to vote Liberal.
As for the NBN, 100Mbps would be nice, but I am not so selfish as to delude myself that such an enormous amount of money could not be better spent elsewhere.
The law of supply and demand will ensure that if there is a genuine need for speed, then it will be filled by private enterprise in mutual competition.
Surely this is better than an artificially created monopoly, that will inevitably be sold off (just like Telstra), leaving us with yet another bloated, competition-destroying, innovation stifling entity that makes it impossible to achieve a level playing field.
Daniel
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 3:22 PMSorry, but infrastructure like this needs to a monopoly, otherwise you end up with a complete clusterfuck of infrastructure. Just need to keep retail and distribution separate.
matt
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 5:28 PMagreed. though maybe it could be made that different parts of the infrastructure could be sold to different people? and different people could manage different sections? certainly though, it should NOT be allowed to double up! the even BIGGER problem is with wireless! where spectrum is wasted on competing formats!
David
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 6:59 PMNeeds to be a monopoly? You mean we need standover men and artificial barriers to entry and to make sure there is no competition? That is called a racket and you think it would be good.
snoopy
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 3:36 PM+1
Cpt. Pajama Shark
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 2:58 PMLeft, Right, Upper, Lower.
Senate, Greens, Liberal, Labour.
All bulldust.
I want 100mps.
I don’t want it filtered.
What’s the problem polies?
Is it really THAT hard.
Tell me how long, tell me how much.
Mike Jones
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 3:05 PMYour can have the NBN and #nocleanfeed.
I made a quick video about it.
http://youtu.be/JWTj-VoxhKc
Fred
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 3:43 PMSo unless I’m a surgeon in Alice Springs I have no need for faster internet. Gotcha…
Luke
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 6:48 PMOk I might not need the NBN at the moment but it is an investment in the future of the internet in Australia. Ok so it might cost a whole shit load of money but it would have to done some time and there is no time like the present. The Liberals are scared of spending money and there is one way i look at it, Ok it might be good to have a budget that is on surplus but why didnt that money go into important things insted of just letting it sit there.
Ha
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 7:17 PMTo the people who say that their happy enough with ADSL2+ and don’t need 100Mbps:
Not everyone can get ADSL2+, and in a few years time 100Mbps will be the new ADSL2+.
A national internet infrastructure will do much better for the whole of Australia in the future. Also, the speed of a fiber connection is limited by the equipment in each end. So by the time the NBN is actually finished, it will probably be going much faster than 100Mbps. Do you think you’d be happy with your ADSL2+ then?
Rapture
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 1:40 AMI have a simple analogy i have for the NBN is – The NBN its better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. Ok so everyone might not run out and sign up for it at once but its nice to know its there for when the time comes to upgrade.
Phil
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 4:17 AMFirst of all Telstra is already delivering 100mbps in selected areas in Melb. So 100 clicks is there if you want it.
Secondly if anyone thinks that Telstra is prepared to shut down it’s biggest asset without getting a lot more in return than govt is paying them they are deluding themselves.
The structure is such that the tier two (infrastructure) delivery company will eventually be sold off. Guess who will be on the sidelines waiting to buy it for a song?
A deal has been done under the table with Telstra and we deserve to know about it.
SL
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 9:04 AMNBN is just not super high for surfing WWW. What needs to be understood is that it is a tool.
The better tools you have at your disposal the better products and services can be created in the future, creating jobs new market and services.
Why go to Bunnings and buy an electric drill when you can use a screw driver and a hammer to punch a hole? Why spend money on a highway, when a dirt track can do the job too? Lacking common sense?
Where the rest of the world is today in Internet broadband speeds, we Australian ranks 50th, Why? If we are first world country we certainly can afford it. It is an investment for tax payers but also look towards the future.
Abz
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 11:53 AMPerfectly articulated SL… this will increase our global commerce potential and open up a whole new range of opportunities we do not currently see because we have no way of physically realising these goals… except for the NBN, which is a necessary step to bring us leaping into the technology arena. Australia is so bloody far away from everywjere else in teh world and this will be a great leveller. This WILL help small, medium and large business.
Wok
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 1:16 PMIt’s not that we need better Internet infrastructure that’s up for debate but Labor’s NBN plan. If you ask me all they will do is deliver a crappy result and cost allot of money.
Waste money buying stuff of Telstra (copper network) waste money running fiber to homes in whoop whoop but not apartments in a major city. Stupid.
SL
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 11:32 AMWok, if the logistics of implementation are on the debate here (although plainly speaking I think it is NBN itself in discussion), then the question arrises how it will be executed & implemented.
Well, if you ask me none of the politicians in Australia will be able to deliver. What needs to be done is to hire the services from the International market (if we do not have local talents available) to form and execute a plan, with time line budgeting & penalties.
Billions of dollars of business infrastructure are studied by various private companies, funds allocated and executed with success in countries like India, China and Japan, hire from there, if you ask me.
The idea is to get the job done efficiently. $11 Billion NBN project is a small amount. Projects larger than these are implemented with success. That is when I say look outwards to the International market if we can’t implement internally within Australia, learn from other International project and help develop local talents.