Labor Wins Minority Government, NBN Lives On

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3:31PM September 7, 2010 | Nick Broughall

The Federal election has been sitting on the edge of a knife since we went to the polls on August 21, with neither party having enough seats to form government. But the real tragedy has been that with the deadlock, we’ve had no idea whether or not we’d be getting a nationwide broadband network built or not. Fortunately all that ended today, with independent MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott joining with the Labor party to form a minority government, giving them the numbers to keep rolling out the NBN.

Earlier today, Bob Katter, the rambling man from North Queensland with a love of Brazil and cowboy hats, broke ranks from the other indies to announce he’d side with the coalition, bringing the numbers to 74-74 each for Labor and Liberal. But the fact that he gave his own conference an hour and a half prior to the other two was a good indication that Katter was singing to his own tune. Shortly afterwards, Windsor and Oakeshott held their own conference confirming that they’d throw their weight behind the Gillard government, giving Labor the 76 seats it needed to take power.

Tony Windsor confirmed that one of the major deciding policies in his decision was broadband: “Do it once, do it right and do it with fibre.” Oakeshott agreed that broadband was a key issue as well.

So what now? With Labor now having enough seats to form a minority government, NBNCo should be able to confidently continue its plans to roll out a national fibre broadband network. Well, at least until the next election, when we’ll almost certainly have to go through all this again…

Comments

  • sew

    September 7, 2010 at 3:33 PM

    August 21

  • Chewy Bravo

    September 7, 2010 at 3:39 PM

    Thank God. Now bring on the super fast porn

  • Sam Klingner

    September 7, 2010 at 3:39 PM

    The caveats? It goes to regional centers first and only country Australians will have access to wholesale prices – meaning city/urban folk will be subsidising their broadband…

    • Sam Klingner

      September 7, 2010 at 3:44 PM

      “Roll-in, not Roll-out” was the pertinent quote for the first bit.

    • Normandy

      September 7, 2010 at 4:06 PM

      Brilliant, I am the second site for NBN and in a country area! bring it on!!!

    • matt

      September 7, 2010 at 4:16 PM

      in fairness… they ARE the ones who need it… as many of the anti-NBN ppl have said, us urban foke already have access to fairly good net.

      the whole point of the NBN isn’t that we get fast internet. its that EVERYONE gets fast internet – more specifically, anyone who wants/needs it, regardless of where they decide to live.

      I do believe that this is a big piece of the REAL population problem in Australia: the disparity between urban and regional Aus. one is overpopulated, the other is underpopulated, no wonder when you mix the two groups together blindly you get such a confusing argument.

    • matt

      September 7, 2010 at 5:13 PM

      they just quizzed JG on it, she said that the wholesale price will be the same EVERYWHERE, so in that regard, yes, naturally, you would expect the wholesale price would usually be cheaper in the city than it would in the country, but then again, this comes back to the WHOLE REASON why its being done by the gov, and not being left to the private n00bs, so that it is FAIR for everyone, that everyone gets treated equal. this, logically, will lead to greater equality in popularity: country vs city, no more catch 22, where the more people there are in a location, the more popular it becomes, while the rest is let to die.

      in effect, its no different than when they use tax FROM EVERYONE to fund a specific project for some people, so yes, US IN THE CITY WILL BE SUBSIDISING REGIONAL NET! I think thats the way it has to be.

      • Sam Klingner

        September 7, 2010 at 8:15 PM

        Listen to what she explicitly said rather than what she implied and you’ll see she’s left it wide open.

        Luckily Tony Windsor isn’t quite as slippery.

        + you don’t need to get cappy with me – I’m just stating the facts as they were told.

  • Water Bear

    September 7, 2010 at 3:43 PM

    Really great news, and we dont have to go back to the polls with a split decision. Yippeee!

  • Paul

    September 7, 2010 at 3:46 PM

    Which means the filter is back again.
    They hid conroy well lately

    • Tom

      September 7, 2010 at 3:52 PM

      Not really. Labor said they would put it off for a year, by which time the Greens (who stringently oppose it) will hold the balance of power in the Senate so it won’t get through.

    • klaw

      September 7, 2010 at 3:56 PM

      The filter is on the backburner for a year, and all indications are that the Greens and the Coalition will shoot it down if it comes to Parliament. I imagine that Labor will just quietly let it die….

    • Ben

      September 7, 2010 at 4:03 PM

      haven’t the coalition and the greens promised to vote the filter down?

      I doubt we’ll ever see it happen.

    • Toby

      September 7, 2010 at 4:04 PM

      The filter is dead, even if they could get it through the lower house it would be shot down in the senate.

    • Normandy

      September 7, 2010 at 4:06 PM

      the filter is dead!

      http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/government/isp-filter-plan-could-be-buried/story-fn4htb9o-1225915395171

    • tim

      September 7, 2010 at 4:10 PM

      I thought it was already public that the coalition and the greens had announced they wouldn’t support filter legislation, so its dead in the water?

    • Mike w

      September 7, 2010 at 4:14 PM

      They won’t have the numbers to get the filter through so we are safe till the next election, in about 12 months

    • Adam

      September 7, 2010 at 4:16 PM

      Filter has pretty much been scrapped even Conroy said its unlikely to happen because the Greens and Coalition have said that they will block it from going through.

    • JonBOY26

      September 7, 2010 at 4:17 PM

      …with any luck the greens and independents will snowball the filter policy but the NBN itself will roll on.

    • Captain Pajama Shark

      September 7, 2010 at 5:13 PM

      I don’t think the filter is dead.
      Conroy was hell bent on getting it in, and the Labor power faction that is propping the Gillard government up is the conservative right. (The religious nuts). It’s gonna be filter all the way I reckon.
      If the greens want any of their wacky idea’s even considered by the conservatives, they’ll need to roll over on a few things.
      I’m betting the filter will be one of them.
      They’ve already traded their souls for seats… proving they have no backbone.

      It should be constituents first, party second.
      Until we get ministers doing that, you can’t really bet on anything.

  • MDolley

    September 7, 2010 at 3:56 PM

    “Do it once, do it right and do it with fibre” that is the best quote I have heard for quite a while. I really can’t see why people are against the NBN

    • Water Bear

      September 7, 2010 at 4:40 PM

      Just good advice for life really :p

    • Hey

      September 7, 2010 at 4:58 PM

      You’re right mate. I mean, how could ANYONE be opposed to spending a whopping 43 Billion with the highly likely outcome that it will blow out?

      • Namarrgon

        September 7, 2010 at 5:18 PM

        If it delivers dividends and other economic gains for 50 years, $43B might be considered cheap.

        After all, nobody’s regretting the similarly-huge investment made in the public telephone network, are they? What if that was considered “too expensive” at the time – would we still be using telegrams and letters today instead of ADSL?

      • Gorhob Perkins

        September 7, 2010 at 7:57 PM

        43 Billion on infrastructure for the future? It’s not like this is going to be a passing fad, this is something that’s going to last a long time and benefit everyone.

        Would you have been arguing against investing in telephone lines, electricity lines, roads?

  • Rawprawn

    September 7, 2010 at 4:28 PM

    What a waste of money. The future fund is spent, the country in debt, we have no money or population to support the retirement of the next generation. I have no problem with providing satellite or copper to outback, however the govt has constantly refused to have a cost benefit done on the plan. Dark fiber has a much shorter life than copper so where is the money coming from to upgrade it all. What a joke.

    • Namarrgon

      September 7, 2010 at 5:19 PM

      Dark fiber has a much shorter life than copper

      [Citation needed] Where do you get that idea? Glass fibre is more stable and inert than copper, and has far more bandwidth potential. What makes you think it would need more upgrading than the PSTN did?

      • Sam Klingner

        September 7, 2010 at 8:13 PM

        There’s no real difference between them in terms of material lifespan.

        Fiber does have a limited repair tolerance so its useful lifespan varies.

    • matt

      September 8, 2010 at 11:30 AM

      as they said in the pop debate, relining on a constantly growing population to fund the retirement of the older generation is just a massive ponzi scheme. because then you need even more people to fund the more people you got to fund the current pensioners. and I think creating more high paying jobs is more important than just hoarding all the money that will inevitably come if you do nothing like the libs want to. and on the note of retirement, the 12% super coming from the mining tax will also help there.

  • Abz

    September 7, 2010 at 4:45 PM

    Yep, agreed ‘MDolley’… I just cannot understand the mentality of these people that can’t see the benefits of this national, scalable infrastructure! Well said mate.

  • Jonno

    September 7, 2010 at 4:51 PM

    As much I like the idea of the NBN it is will be badly managed and poorly inplementedand, resulting in massive budget blowouts. Really wish it wasn’t like this but given that every policy Labor has implemented since being elected in 2007 has gone that way I can’t see this being any different. Howard’s greatest failure wasn’t workchoices it was his lack of vision not to build this type of NBN when Australia could afford to do so.

    • klaw

      September 8, 2010 at 2:06 PM

      Happily, Labor has taken a more hands-off approach to the NBN and left it in the hands of people with fewer political motivations and better credentials for the task. NBNCo will be far better managed than the insulation debacle.

      Also, the agreement with Telstra to buy their fibre infrastructure means that a lot of work won’t need to be done, and the price of the backbone should be substantially reduced. I’m sure there will be cost over-runs somewhere, but they should be at least partially offset by these savings.

  • Elephant Fresh

    September 7, 2010 at 5:36 PM

    This rules, and I suggest that any Liberals should go cry about it. Big government programs are coming to steal your jobs and livelihoods and children. Our giant deficit of fast internet and welfare payments for young people and single mums will smoother you in your sleep. Mwhahahahaha, resistance is futile!

  • Simon Reidy

    September 7, 2010 at 5:38 PM

    Unfiltered 1gbps fibre to the home, with a wealth of new technologies, IPTV and HD streaming films, at cheap prices, all delivered to your home and geeks are complaining? How anyone could see this as anything other than brilliant news is beyond me. Have some vision!

    This is the best possible outcome for the IT sector. The job opportunities from new industries surrounding the NBN will be huge. This is the infrastructure for the 21st century that will drive new technology you can’t even imagine yet.

  • Rahul Khanna

    September 7, 2010 at 5:46 PM

    NBNCo doesn’t get much interference from labor so they’re unlikely to cock this up to the same degree. They’ve already been sticking fairly well to targets so it bodes well. The other botched schemes had much more direct government input and, let’s face it, you need less politics and more action when you’re doing something big like this.

    Even if there are some blow-outs, let’s face the fact that this is the only way we’re going to get equitable broadband across the country. It will never make business sense for a private company to put in this level of investment for a small return.

    Companies see return on investment as a number on their bottom line, for governments a good return includes not just dollars but having a better educated work-force, better population satisfaction, overall economic strength etc. They have much more incentive to do things right by the country.

  • Daniel Weaver-Koenigs

    September 7, 2010 at 6:47 PM

    So since we ended up with the crap govt with the good internet plan, can they hurry up and purchase TransACT for ACT NBN? I’m tired of being completely ripped off by their monopoly in my area that can’t get ADSL2, they’re worse than Telstra.

  • 3 Bags Full

    September 7, 2010 at 9:32 PM

    Why not! Bout time! Spend up!
    Rob Oakeshott just wont shut up & thinks NBN was his idea!
    He is a puppet & yes man & gets nothing done!Thats why Lyne is in such shit!
    His speech was excessively self-promotional, obnoxious, or even worse, boring & he should have been banned from commenting!

  • DWH

    September 7, 2010 at 9:40 PM

    The thing that most “city subsidising the bush” people fail to realise is that to people who understand the economic issues affecting Regional Australia views the NBN as a core piece of the puzzle for the regeneration of our regional towns. I worked in a Council with a ageing population, who like most, want everything and pay nothing.

    The NBN will allow people to move to theses communities, with cheap land, empty schools and day care centres, and work without compromise. This is the single most important issue whether people who live in Regional Australia realise it or not.

    Also I’ll mention the fact that now live in the ‘burbs’ of a state capital and get only 3mbps on an ADSL2+ connection… maybe there will be some benefit to the city dwellers too…

    This is the key reason why ‘telecommuting” has failed. These unfortunately common speeds are not enough for a person to connect effectively to work systems.

    As Tony Windsor said “Do it right, do it with fibre.”

    • matt

      September 8, 2010 at 11:37 AM

      agreed.

      don’t like subsidizing the country?

      here’s an idea: why not move out of your overcrowded, busy, polluted, infrastructure strained, very over priced capital city, and go out into the country.

      currently it is a MASSIVE catch 22, no one wants to move to regional aus because it has none of the luxury and features people want, and it doesn’t have those features and luxury because no one lives there.

      some one has to break this cycle. and only the gov really can.

  • cos

    September 7, 2010 at 11:12 PM

    I think no one in the know would debate that the NBN Co team is a credentialed, talented and capable one, and have been given sufficient licence to produce the goods. this will not be victim to state government departments, as was the case of the school hall program (yes, the state governments, rahter than federal labor, are largely to blame for that). so i think the claims of waste, mismanagement and general incompetence should be kept on hold.

    as for the network, it will be a while before we reap the full benifits of it, to be sure. certainly, in 20 years time i think few will question the foresight of laying out this network. but already commercialy and internationally funded NBN related research projects put on hold whilst waiting for the outcome of the election will resume or begin. this will be a huge boost for our IT industry, and means aust4ralia will get a jump on the rest of the world in one of the highest growth potential sectors in the global economy (as well as the boosts this will have on all other technology dependent sectors).

    re all this talk about a cost benifit analysis (‘business case’) – NBn should be seen as an ‘enabling’ technology. the benifits we gain from it largely depend on the ability of australian business and individuals to put it to good use, and to do so in innovative and creative ways. i for one am confident that we have what it takes to accomplish significant positive outcomes for our society, economy and global competitiveness.

  • Shane

    September 8, 2010 at 8:53 AM

    Wow, that’s a serious topic :P

    I wonder if you can buy shares in it, might as well get some of my money back…hang on, I am a tax payer, therefore I am a share holder, of crap, I’ve been ripped off by the government again… :P

    So long as we don’t see any mention of a filter, I’ll be happy.

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