I’m currently attending the Kickstart IT Journalist forum which was addressed by Paul Fletcher Liberal MP for Bradfield about why the Liberal/National coalition opposes the National Broadband Network (NBN).
It was a disappointing replay of the No Bloody No argument that has been rolled out previously by the conservative coalition parties such as: leave it to the private sector, an incremental approach is better than ubiquitous coverage, no one will use 100Mbits etc without offering an alternative other than a patchwork quilt of technologies.
I have previously written a Big Picture Historical, Present, Future perspective on the Australian National Broadband Network for GEARE magazine.
must be great to quote only negatives for everything without having to offer an alternative or ever being held to account #ks12 #NBN
— ABC Tech & Games (@ABCtech) February 26, 2012
When asked by a journalist in the audience whether a conservative government would have decided to build the now 80 year old Sydney Harbour Bridge, Fletcher dodged the question.
This an excellent comparison to make because the Sydney Harbour Bridge was vastly overbuilt for the foreseeable requirement at the time.
The photo below is of the first cars and trains crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge during it’s official opening.
Thank heavens we had visionaries then who built public infrastructure which would remain useful many decades into the future rather than building cheaper low capacity bridges that would have had to be replaced several times to meet growing demand.
The government doesn’t need to keep building. But to create something that will be beneficial to its goals and visions.
Its Ok to build infrastructure but they should build a good one or spend a lot of money than to build a cheaper one and after a year another infrastructure. Also build a useful one.