NBN: the start of a real discourse?

Grahame Lynch rebutted 20 of my responses to his 50-points on the NBN.
I appreciate the civility and thoroughness of his reply. If the momentum can be kept up, maybe an informed debate will be possible.

This was my reply to him in the comments. [Corrected spelling of his name]


Grahame,

Thanks very much for real comments and real debate, not name-calling and the 'ignore inconvenient questions' both Conroy & Turnbull practice. What has been completely missing, IMO, since 2009 is an informed debate, which you've graciously entered into with me here.

I thought Quigley made an honest attempt at putting this on the Agenda recently and that fell spectacularly flat, very sad.
I seem to recall the Chair of NBN Co made a not dissimilar comment in the last 6 months as well.

We, the Australian people as Electors and Telecomms subs, are going to live with, and pay for, the results of the NBN policy for a *very* long time. Is it the biggest Infrastructure Investment this (21st) Century? Not nearly if you count Mining, not nearly the biggest Fed Govt expenditure if you count Defence expenditure.

But the most important Civil Works project, either as an enabling Technology/Productivity Multiplier OR as Massive OverExpenditure and waste/inefficiency we can't afford...

Thanks for not just trotting out Political Lines and seriously debating issues. That's a breathe of fresh air.

You've informed me of things I wasn't aware of and that will make me reconsider things - that's the essence of good public discourse.

I think FTTP everywhere was a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal, worthy of the likes of Apple and Google. Was it the only option possible? Not by a long shot. Was a Big Bang Implementation the only way to go? Maybe... The central question was: "How do we get Sol and Telstra to work with us, not against us"... Steam-rolling and side-lining them was ONE answer, but was it the best??? David Thodey seems like someone that will listen and talk, though he'll robustly represent the Telstra commercial position.

In the context of third-wave GFC stimulus package, the NBN was great economic support to the Nation and Aspirational like the Carbon Trading Scheme we never got.

Labor under Rudd and Gillard have, all too often, failed  to Execute well and even properly.
They've thrown away so many great opportunities and Snatched Defeat from the Jaws of Victory so frequently its unbearable. There should not have been a Hung Parliament if the polls at the start of 2010 could've been kept.
As a Hung Parliament, Gillard & Co have enacted a bunch of good legislation, shepherding it through a difficult group.

But as Political operatives, a complete Bust... [Whatever you think of the Howard Govt, he was a tactical Politician without peer. The contrast to Rudd then Gillard is stark.]

I'd like there to be an NBN debate, not mere political posturing.
As a country, we need to improve out Economic Competitiveness (Gina Rinehart may be extreme, but isn't all wrong) and address the falling Economic Productivity of the last decade [driven in part by lag-time investment-to-production in major mining projects].

Thanks for taking this seriously and kicking it off. Much appreciated.

regards
steve jenkin.