Abstract:
Despite, or perhaps because of, the persistence of global warming, the precarious state of global finance and a protracted war in Afghanistan, national broadband policy remains at the forefront of political debate. So far the Labor Party continues to outflank the opposition on the issue, largely by mixing technical detail with technological utopianism so that the Coalition appears either ignorant or anti-progress. Malcolm Turnbull has been installed to try and deflate the National Broadband Network (NBN), but with little success so far. Unlike other Coalition ministers, Turnbull has been selected because he appears to know something about the internet. Yet he has been put in an invidious position. He cannot be against broadband, merely how to pay for it, and appealing to the vagaries of the private sector for funding makes Coalition policy look feeble compared to the idea of a national digital infrastructure – especially with the comparisons made to the Snowy Mountain scheme that have rather uncritically become attached to it. Indeed Turnbull looks uncomfortable in his new role; as if he shares journalists’ and almost everyone else’s assumption that high-speed broadband is essential for the future.
Details / PDF:
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