During a visit to HMAS Albatross this month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the the Coalition had transformed the National Broadband Network from a failure into a success. In full election campaign mode, he said, "We've made a big turnaround ... to make a bad project better".
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Voters have come to expect this blinkered view, from both sides of politics. However, the attitude of the Coalition towards the NBN is disappointing, to say the least. On one hand, Mr Turnbull praises Australia as a smart nation. On the other, the government is content to roll out what seems, to some, to be a second-rate broadband system.
The reputation of the former Labor government tarnished most of what it did, or tried to do. Thus the NBN, Labor style, is conveniently lumped with that administration's other failures, such as the home insulation scheme – a royal commission found the deaths of four installers participating in the program would not have occurred if the scheme had been properly designed and implemented.
The pros and cons of Labor's NBN and the Coalition's scheme have been canvassed widely. Labor began the more expensive, high-speed scheme with optical fibre cable laid from the telephone exchange to homes and businesses. The Coalition opted for the cheaper version – the fibre terminates at a street cabinet and the internet signal is taken the rest of the way by copper cable. This delivers slower internet speeds but may be able to be rolled out more quickly.
Recent analysis suggests voters are frustrated with slow internet speeds and the NBN has emerged as a surprise winner for Labor during the election campaign. It showed criticism of Mr Turnbull and the government over the NBN was widespread across social media and radio talkback, as people complained about frustrating internet speeds and slow progresss on delivery.
Against this background, the intervention in the election campaign of the first chief executive of the NBN is significant. Mike Quigley says the Coalition's multi-technology roll-out is a "colossal mistake, and supported Labor's plan to increase the use of fibre directly to the home.
He rubbished the copper-based fibre-to-the-node technology and questioned spending billions on a piece of infrastructure that does not allow significant growth without large upgrade costs. He described this strategy as "incredibly short-sighted".
Mr Quigley resigned from NBN Co just before the Coalition's election in 2013 and will inevitably be regarded by some as favouring Labor. However, his comments can usefully be seen as a wake-up call to politicians, particularly as internet speeds are discussed more widely in the campaign.
The issue could prove tricky for Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who is facing a challenge in his seat of New England from the former Member, Tony Windsor. During a debate about the NBN on the ABC's Q&A program broadcast from Tamworth, Mr Windsor drew sustained applause with the comment, "Do it once, do it right, and do it with fibre".
The left-leaning federal electorates in Canberra – a smart, high-tech precinct – are expected to deliver another pro-NBN message to politicians next Saturday. It is to be hoped the nation will take heed.
