The NBN, LNP, and Murdoch Walk Into A Bar…

11/01/2019

… and the NBN does not make it out alive. For anyone paying any attention, it was incredibly obvious that the intentional sabotage of the National Broadband Network was done to please our great media overlord, Rupert Murdoch. So why is it taking so long for everyone to be angry about this abuse of power that has drastically and negatively affected our country?

Kevin Rudd is, again, in the news bringing up the question of Murdoch’s influence over the shift in NBN plans. Labor’s plan to introduce FTTP (fibre to the premises) was cast aside by then Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, to make way for ‘mixed technology’. This meant the fibre network would be installed up to the node in your street but then branch out using the old copper networks. Needless to say, this has nowhere near the same appeal as FTTP had, and considering the outrageously optimistic time frame and budget for it has been blown to pieces, it has actually become more expensive and time consuming than Labor’s only slightly optimistic budget and time frame for their initial plan.

Malcolm Turnbull has denied that Murdoch had any say in the decision to sabotage one of his greatest potential threats, but it seems all to coincidental that at the time of the original announcement for mixed tech there was talk of a meeting between then Prime Minister Tony Abbott and, you guessed it, Murdoch only a day or two beforehand. If you believe Abbott when he says he did not mention the NBN to one of the world’s most influential media moguls, then you’d be believing lies.

So now Rudd has brought this subdued conversation back into the light and we need to ask ourselves what we really want this coming election. The LNP lambasted Labor over their overextended budget and time predictions, but then proceeded to tear that plan to shreds while also blowing the budget and time predictions way beyond anything Labor would have ever considered. The NBN was one of Labor’s defining achievements, something that they could have been quite proud of. But of course, we can’t have nice things and my safe LNP seat probably doesn’t deserve more than 700KB/s download speeds anyway, because why would we want internet capabilities that actually reflect those of a first world country? How greedy.

The Murdoch media, as a tool of propaganda, is wretched enough, but a serious investigation into their influence over policy – and perhaps that hefty $30 million the government gave them a while back – is required. The corruption in Canberra is unbearable enough as it is, and it needs to be called out every chance we get.

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