Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
The unfortunate thing is, no matter what happens - fix or subsidise - it's going to cost the government (which is us taxpayers) millions... money that will either be taken from more important things or higher taxes, to cover it. Neither of which will have an impact on those well-paid politicians, so they won't care which option they take.
Not all politicians. Some (fewer and fewer it seems) are motivated by a broad conception of the national interest.

More unfortunate is the fact that the mess that is the NBN is the greatest infrastructure scandal of my lifetime. It had the potential to transform both business and everyday life in ways that could have benefited regional Australia immensley.

Now it is a half-assed piece of rubbish, run by the only telecommunications company board in the world who saw a future in degraded copper so bright and glorious Telstra couldn't believe their luck!

There are a whole host of factors that contribute to this - our degraded press culture, where highly paid "journalists" simply churn out whatever press release is whispered to them by one or another politician or lobby group, and lacked the ability to properly inform voters of the issues at stake.

Cosy Ignorance - I cannot believe the number of people I spoke to who would confidently state that they couldn't understand why it wouldn't be better for wireless, or some other half baked technology. What was worse is the 100% unwarranted confidence, given they did not have any knowledge or conducted even cursory research.

The inability to see the positive impacts the NBN would have had at a broad level, even if the individual concerned might not need it. The possibilities for tele-medicine in regional areas, real-time university lectures delivered to students in regional areas, the ability for a special effects business in Tasmania to win work in Hollywood because they can finally upload their work to the Cloud at the speeds required.

The individuals involved in this debacle, in a just world, would be hounded out of public life, humiliated and ashamed and regarded with complete disgust by a populace whose interests they sold out.

As you can tell this is a topic I am somewhat passionate about....

Best regards
Catcon