12th September 2013

The campaigning website change.org has been hosting an onine petition calling on the Coalition to abandon its NBN policy and complete the National Broadband Network on the same design as that set out by Labor - fibre to the premises to 93% of the population.

Last Saturday there was a general election at which the NBN was one of the most prominent issues. The Coalition's NBN Policy - which can be read here  had been published in April - five months ahead of the election. The Coalition won the election.

The promoters of this petition apparently believe that we should ignore the lengthy public debate on the NBN that preceded the election and also ignore the election result. We should within days of the election walk away from one of our most well debated, well understood and prominent policies. Democracy? I don't think so.

For those who don't have time to read our policy (but time to sign an online petition) there are a few important points to bear in mind.

We do not regard technology as an ideological issue. We are technologically agnostic. We want to ensure that all Australians have very fast broadband as soon, as cheaply and as affordably as possible. The NBN project at present is running over budget and way behind schedule. At the current rate of progress it will take decades to complete and close to $100 billion.

The Labor Government has not been honest with the public about the NBN. They never conducted a cost benefit analysis, they have sought at every turn to conceal the fact that the project has been failing to meet its targets.

We will bring the public into our confidence. We will open the books of the NBN. There will be a strategic review conducted within the next 60 days which will show how long it will take and how much it will cost to complete the NBN on the current specifications and what that means both to the taxpayer and to the consumers. We will also set out what our options are to complete the project sooner and more cost effectively and again what that means in terms of affordability and of course in service levels. Many of the FTTP supporters on twitter and elsewhere say that they don't care what it costs or how long it takes - they want fibre to the home regardless. That point of view is reckless in the extreme. Every public infrastructure project has to be carefully and honestly analysed so that governments, and citizens, can weigh up the costs and benefits.

This study is vital for the public to be fully informed and our redesign of the project will be informed by the result of those studies.

The NBN debate is not over - but I am determined to ensure that from now on it is at least fully informed.

Our NBN Policy | Malcolm Turnbull MP

See below for an update from Nick on the petition you signed: "The Liberal Party of Australia: Reconsider your plan for a 'FTTN' NBN in favour of a superior 'FTTH' NBN"

Nicholas -

On Friday, after a quarter of a million people signed our petition, Malcolm Turnbull responded on his blog, and gave me a call.

We spoke about the different NBN options available, and I made it clear that there is a ground swell of Australians, from all sides of politics, who want to see him reconsider how he deals with this.

I was a little frustrated as he seemed to suggest that we don’t understand.  He suggested we wait, read his report, and then we’d get it.

I’m not sure that he understands. 

The coalition seem to think that winning the election was the end of debate, but I think it was the beginning. Clearly this is a deeper issue than I, or Malcolm Turnbull, really imagined.

I’ve started the conversation with him, but I need your help to continue it.  We need him to see that people are asking him to engage and be open about the future of the NBN.  Will you share this image, asking this government to be the kind we were promised - one that listens?

The coalition need to know we want more from them.  It’s fair that we expect them to engage, to listen. That’s what they pledged in the lead up to the election, and when they won.

It has been a promising week.  To be honest, when I started this petition, I thought it would be great to get 1000 signatures. But every day now, more and more Australians are signing on and asking the government to engage.  Clearly, we’ve started something really big.

We need to use this petition as the first step in a much bigger campaign - can you help take the next step? 

Thanks

Nick

P.S. It’s been great to see so many people talking about how to get the new government to listen to us.  If you have an idea or a skill to contribute to the campaign, email: nbnpetition@gmail.com and let me know.  Also, I’ll be offline for a couple of days, so I’m asking my friend Alex to help out, if there’s news to report, he’ll email on my behalf while I’m away.

Click here to share this image on Facebook