Opposition Shadow Minister for Communications, Senator Nick Minchin, has put out a statement claiming Australia’s Federal Labor Government is trying to change its promise to deliver fibre based broadband to 98% of Australians by using wireless from commercial operators instead.

Is Australia’s Rudd Labor Government taking Aussies for a ride when it comes to the Internet and broadband?

First we have a minimum 12Mbps fibre broadband guarantee that has seen delay after delay, with a 5 year build-out timeframe that hasn’t seen a single sod of soil turned, any contracts awarded and the removal of Australia’s dominant telco, Telstra, from the NBN (National Broadband Network) tender bidding process.

Then came the revelations that Australia’s new Government wants to censor the Internet, supposedly to protect Australians from child pornographers by blocking websites that pedophiles aren’t using in any case, preferring instead to operate via P2P and other more secretive channels. This then led the Government to announce it would trial the filtering of P2P services as well.

Now we have the Federal Opposition making claims that the “Rudd Government does not believe taxpayers should have to foot the bill for broadband services in any part of Australia where a commercially sustainable wireless option is available”.

Opposition Shadow Minister for Communications, Senator Nick Minchin, says in that statement that this “raises serious questions about its motivation to spend $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ money on its trouble-plagued National Broadband Network”.

The rest of the Senator’s statement is as follows:

“It has been reported that the Rudd Government plans to reduce subsidies available under the Australian Broadband Guarantee (ABG) program by tens-of-millions of dollars because of the continued expansion of 3G wireless services.

“The ABG was established by the previous Coalition Government to provide Australians living in under-serviced parts of the country access to subsidised broadband services such as satellite.

“In what could amount to a major broadband policy shift by Labor, the spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has told The Australian: “The purpose of the ABG is to ensure metro-comparable broadband is available to all Australians. If it is available from a sustainable commercial operator then there is no need for taxpayers to subsidise.”

“Senator Minchin said these comments indicate that the Rudd Government itself does not really believe taxpayer money should be spent in any area where the private sector is providing some type of viable broadband service fixed or wireless.

“The Rudd Government wants to spend $4.7 billion of taxpayers’ money on a fibre to the node project that will replicate the type of fixed-line services already available to many Australians, particularly those living in metro areas, but is now effectively saying it doesn’t really believe taxpayers should have to pay,” Senator Minchin said.

Senator Minchin continued: “While Labor’s firm promise is to deliver new high-speed fibre-to-the-node broadband services to 98 per cent of Australians, the experts have long said and the NBN bidders themselves have now confirmed, that this is nothing more than a naive Labor pipe dream, even with the Commonwealth subsidy.
“So if Labor still plans to spend the $4.7 billion, do the spokesman’s comments indicate that it has now given up on delivering fibre to the node to rural, regional and remote Australians as promised?

“Does this pave the way for it to do what many have long suspected, roll out fibre in well-serviced and easy-to-reach metro areas until the money runs out?” Senator Minchin asked.

“On top of that, Labor will scale back the ABG and what tell rural, regional and remote Australians that ‘even though we promised you fibre to the node broadband like the city, we’ve decided you can’t have it and expensive wireless or satellite is good enough for you’?”

“By contrast the previous Coalition Government was to contribute $958 million towards a new, high-speed broadband network for under serviced parts of rural and regional Australia (OPEL), which was targeted for completion by mid 2009. Labor cancelled this project with no alternative to it and now also wants to scale back the ABG.

“Senator Minchin said these developments made urgent the need for Senator Conroy to release his expert panel’s report which includes recommendations on bids for the NBN and is due on Wednesday (21 January).

“This report, as well as that of the ACCC on crucial competition and regulatory issues, must be released, with the opportunity for public comment before the Rudd Government makes any decision,” Senator Minchin concluded.

Serious questions have been raised, but given the torturous path that has already been taken, clear answers from politicians seems as forlorn a hope as encountering an honest second-hand car salesman, true world peace, a sound gold-backed currency or an operating system that doesn’t crash.

Source:   http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/strategy/22723-coalition-says-labor-changing-98-broadband-nbn-promise