With Labor clinging on to power after the closest Australian election in decades, the NBN (National Broadband Network) is a go. For better or worse.
The 2010 Australian election was one fought over major issues but with minor differences between the two main parties. Which is probably the reason it came down to the wire in such an extreme manner. One of the few differences in policy between the Labor party and the Liberal coalition was whether the NBN should go ahead as planned.
Julia Gillard and co. were in favor, being the architects of the plan for high-speed broadband across the country in the first place. But Tony Abbott and co. were against the plans, and in favor of a backbone crossing the country which would provide wireless broadband to more people. This second option would have also been a lot cheaper.
The NBN wasn’t enough to make voters minds up, but in the end it did swing it for Labor. Both Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, the two independents who ended up holding all the power, made it clear that the NBN was one of the key reasons why they threw their support behind Labor in the end. Windsor said:
To miss that opportunity for millions of country Australians was too good an opportunity to miss … you do it once, you do it right and you do it with fiber.
The one caveat now in place is a commitment to rolling out the NBN from the inside out. So rather than following the original plan to build the network in all 16 regions simultaneously using different construction companies, the NBN will appear first in rural areas where it is arguably most needed. It’s no coincidence that Windsor and Oakeshott both represent rural areas.
I guess this leaves the third option suggested by The Alliance for Affordable Broadband as a complete non-starter.
