POLITICS
Only Labor will finish the NBN and keep this
essential infrastructure in public hands
with Michelle Rowland MP
In 2013 , former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said , ‘‘ we are absolutely confident that 25 megs ( Mbps ) is going to be enough , more than enough , for the average household ,” a forecast awardwinning Australian journalist Adam Turner placed in the tech world ’ s Short-sighted Hall of Fame .
With a 25Mbps connection , downloading a 5GB file ( a large software file or update , video game , or HD / 4K movie ) takes around 30 minutes . At 1Gbps – available with a full fibre connection – the same task takes less than one minute .
Australians have always known a fast and affordable publicly owned National Broadband Network ( NBN ) is essential for a modern economy .
The Albanese Government is delivering on its vision for a world-class fibre NBN – and we are finishing what we started .
We announced an equity injection of up to $ 3 billion into NBN Co to upgrade the remaining Fibre to the Node ( FTTN ) network .
This will see an additional 622,000 premises move off the deteriorating copper network , around 164,000 across New South Wales .
This builds on our $ 2.4 billion outlay to upgrade an additional 1.5 million premises to full fibre by the end of 2025 . We are delivering this on time and on budget .
The average Australian household is using more than 450GB of data per month and around 22 connected devices . This is forecast to increase to 1 Terabyte and more than 40 devices by the end of the decade .
Fast broadband enables more people and devices to be online at the same time with minimal disruptions .
But it ’ s not just about entertainment and seamless streaming . Fast broadband supports access to essential government services , banking and telehealth . It enables us to learn and work online and it is delivering real cost savings .
Households are saving more than 100 hours and $ 2,580 per year in avoided travel time and costs .
Modelling by Accenture estimates our latest announcement will provide a $ 10.4 billion cumulative uplift in GDP over the next decade .
Inexplicably , Peter Dutton and the Coalition want to privatise the NBN , and strand Australians on deteriorating copper that won ’ t meet future needs .
And they want to increase wholesale NBN prices to make the NBN more attractive to sell .
Peter Dutton is a risk to Australia and cannot be trusted to deliver the essential services we need to build a better future .
18 ISSUE 47 // FEBRUARY 2025 HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR ! theindependentmagazine . com . au BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT