Most obvious statement in a headline ever. But it raises an interesting question: Why are they failing so much? Industry expert Paul Budde has a superb piece in Business Spectator today which spells out the biggest issue with the Government’s message on the NBN.
The problem, Budde says, is that the government is sending mixed messages. On the one hand, it’s all about super fast broadband to everyone. On the other hand, it’s a utility, something that will drive industry forward and revolutionise the way Australian services are delivered.
But where the government really went wrong was in determining that the NBN was a type of utility being built for the good of the country, yet still needed to provide the government with a return. That creates the FUD that the opposition has been using so effectively over the past 12 months.
This approach by the government has resulted in their inability to sell the benefits of the NBN to the majority of people. And the demands of the opposition are done purely for disrupting the NBN’s rollout:
A watertight cost benefit analysis would be unachievable. In the same way as it would have been impossible to predict the economic and social consequences of electricity and the railways, any prediction you might make now could easily be shot down by any non-believer.
It’s a fantastic explanation of one of the NBN’s biggest problems – you should definitely go and read it.
Dan Miller
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 11:42 AMThe biggest issue with the NBN is it’s cost. Sure it dose cost to build the network, but it’s a network that should of been built over 10 years ago, before they sold of Telstra.
Paul McManus
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 11:57 AM“was a type of utility being built for the god of the country”
.. God is spealt with a capital G ;)
Paul McManus
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 11:58 AM“spelt” … lol
bob
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 12:46 PMhaha fail
JT...
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 12:53 PM“LOL” ;)
Ben Vawdrey
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 3:12 PMI think you’ll find it’s “Spelled”
MrTaco
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 12:50 AMIf you’re an American maybe.
Steve
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 12:27 PMI’ve had the displeasure to listen to Moronic Conroy in Question Time on the ABC where he dances all around a question and fails to give an answer to any question. ie. he’s screwed the pooch but will see if he can avoid owning up to it and just ram the NBN through.
Before the election, ALL Aussies will get fibre to the node… it’ll be super fast… we will be up there with the rest of the world… blah blah blah… what I heard on the radio… 93% will get fibre, 4% will get wireless and 3% will get satellite. Oh wait… what’s that? wireless and satellite? You mean fibre is not going across all of Australia? Conroy’s answer… “It’s not economically feasible”… err… Duh… we all knew that… but that’s not what was promised before the election. Conroy’s response… “Go check the hansard or previous statements”… riiight… waste more time….
I could keep writing, but there is so much crap surrounding the NBN and Conroy that really… I doubt anyone is going to hop on to it until (a) it finally gets deployed (keep waiting people)… (b) people can see retail pricing…
Country people who don’t get fibre? Screw ‘em… I live in the city.
Oh, you mean that the NBN was supposed to be for ALL Australians? Really? Could’ve fooled me.
Josh
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 1:52 PMObviously you didn’t pay attention pre-election, it was never going to be fibre to 100% of the population, it was always going to be the way it is now(well, thats a lie, originally it was only going to be FTTH for 91% of the population).
Mat
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 1:02 PMI think it’s part of the bigger picture; the government hasn’t managed to sell Australians anything, for a long time!
citizen7
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 3:29 PMI have thought of a time when the government managed to sell something; Telecom Australia.
That decision to sacrifice a powerful, strategic, asset has stifled our ability to exchange ideas & information -
leaving our manufacturing, entertainment, retail, and events industries (to name a few) poorly placed to compete with the rest of the world.
Debt has a purpose
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 3:15 PMThe core issue is really about government debt.
It’s voters fault the Government chose to make the NBN Co a private corporation with a focus on ‘financial returns’. It’s because there was (and still is) no appetite for government debt what-so-ever.
Voters got sh*t scared of debt following Howard’s legacy of ‘debt is bad’ and Gillard’s big election promise was a balancing budget by 2013. In this climate, there in no option other than to keep the NBN off the governments bottom line by making it a private corporation. On the government’s bottom line, debt would have skyrocketed and the Libs would have had the makings of a scare campaign politician’s can only dream of.
Voters should not be scared of debt for debt sake, but rather worried about what it is being used for. In my opinion, if you consider all the dodgy spending and borrowing that goes on in Canberra (think pink batts), an NBN is prob a pretty good use of taxpayer’s money. Even if it doesn’t generate a positive ‘financial return’.
Kroo
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 6:31 PMHonestly, you couldn’t trust the government with a bus ticket. They get an idea in their head and just run to the finish line without considering the actual consequences. Fuel watch, grocery watch, BER, insulation rollout, peoples forum, alcho pops tax, now a flood and carbon tax. If I ran my business this way, the bank would have nail my ass to the wall and I’d probably be in jail. And we are putting a complete internet monopoly in their hands? What if it doesn’t work out, who’s the alternative? We know they can spend the tens of billions of dollars, but can they actually produce the goods and oversee the project without disgraceful rorting of the project? After what I heard a union delegate say last year, there’ll be plenty of hands in taxpayer pockets. The idea is fine, it’s the cost and ability to deliver that seriously worries me.
Colin
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 5:27 PMFuel watch, grocery watch, I agree were a waste of money. BER actually had a lower % of wasted money then the average private industry project of that size. Insulation rollout was a faliure of regulation, it was greedy PRIVATE business operators that rotrted the system and provided unsafe work enfironments.
The peoples forum was, yes, a silly idea however the alcho pops tax was not. Can you really be complaining that you no longer get a lower rate of tax on a drink pre-mixed with vodka then on a drink post-mixed with vodka.
As a business owner i would asume if you would cover widespread damage to your business by charging appropriately for your goods or services to cover the cost or repair. This is esentially what the gov is trying to do here. Use tax money from people who can afford it (less than a coffee a week) to pay for the damage caused to people who were left with little or nothing.
As for the carbon tax until there is an actual plan on the table all comments are purely positive spin or fear campaigns to generate support for whichever side of the political divide you sit.
Joe
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 8:07 PMYeah, ah, the reason the government is failing to sell the nbn message is because nobody trusts any of the stupid lies this stupid lying government tells. because they are stupid liars. Also if you like them you’re stupid.