John Linton So if you've bothered to read/skim/scan the last few entries you will have, hopefully, followed the story to date of Kevin In Blunderland but let me summarise it for those people who, probably quite rightly, haven't bothered:
1) In true fairy tale style a poor boy from the Queensland bush is, after many amazing adventures chosen to become the king of the realm after being given the magic NBN jewel by his fairy god mother (or was it a fairy 'sound bite spiv'?)
2) When poor, ignorant Kevin was chosen and sat on the throne he instantly transformed from Kevin the totally ignorant about everything in to Krudd The Omniscient.
3) Using his magic NBN he dazzled the peasantry (and the sycophantic courtiers and reptiles of the press) with his promise to wave his magic NBN and produce communications magnificence throughout the land instantly, with no effort or problem and at a trivial cost.
4) But there must have been a time in the past, and he still has not worked when, he had somehow offended his FGM and his magic NBN didn't work month after month and after 15 months try and wave it as he would no realm wide communications network instantly appeared and the peasantry began to shuffle their feet when Krudd the Omniscient talked about how glorious nation wide communications was all going to be and started muttering "yeah - right" and things that sounded suspiciously like "He's full of it".
5) So one day during two of his many, many magic carpet rides he emerged triumphant saying that the reason that the magic NBN hadn't delivered as promised was because it was a girl magic NBN and had been pregnant with, and had now given birth to, a new even more magnificent magic NBN2 which was even bigger and brighter than its poor drab mother and if the peasantry would just wait another eight years the national communications magnificence would become available as long as the peasantry left poor Kevin on the throne because he had tried awfully hard and he had been let down by the evil wizard Telstra and it was all going to be all right, really and truly and in any case Sir Malcolm FullaBull couldn't be trusted because he was rich.
Of course that's just a silly attempt at sarcasm by a noted Krudd despiser.
The reality is much, much more frightening.
1) Krudd, a political hack with absolutely no knowledge about anything generally and even less about communications, is trying to save himself from the lies he told to get elected (a promise that could never have possibly been delivered) by telling an even bigger, more like gigantic, substitute lie that has the ability to wreck Australia's communications services.
2) Unlike the usual hack politician's lies Krudd's lies about an "NBN2" is unbelievably dangerous because by promising a "new" communications network he is jeopardising the status of the current network.
3) One thing's for sure - Australia can't afford TWO national broadband networks. (it almost certainly can't afford one).
4) But the real danger about Krudd's lies about an NBN2 is that (in Tasmania as painstakingly set out in the previous ramblings) he has been given the political magic bullet that just might let him get re-elected but the cost to Australia is going to be not only billions of wasted tax payer money but far more seriously a hiatus in real broadband investment while the Krudd nonsense eventually proves to be just one more political lie that will endanger all Australians.
5) Krudd is going to push himself in to a corner within 12 months where he is going to have to admit he outrageously lied (no chance of that happening) or he is going to announce a price for a residential user to use 'NBN2' (the tiny Tasmanian piece of it) that is below the cost of supplying it - just to save himself from being seen as the lying and facile poltroon that he is.
6) Remember these simple facts:
a) No costing has been done, by anyone, on what an 'NBN2' can be built for and then operated for.
b) Not only has no costing been done but no study has been done that would provide the parameters on which a costing can be done.
c) Not only has no study and no costing been done but they wont be done until AFTER the Tasmanian pricing has to be announced.
So there you have it:
A politician who needs to save his job being given the means to save his job (price of Tasmanian 'NBN2') with no-one to audit, check or even have any basis for determining what should be charged.
His only self serving decision will be to pick a price that is low enough to appeal to the peasantry (sorry - electorate) which would have to be attractive when compared to ADSL2 which will mean no-one will invest any more money in ADSL2 which means when the 'NBN2' can't be delivered for Krudd's job saver price Australia will be even further behind the delivery of faster broadband than it was when some silly people elected Krudd based on his insanely undeliverable promises.
Krudd can pick whatever price he likes because not even anyone in his own party has been allowed to provide input and certainly none of the departments that would normally have prepared all of the figures and policy papers (Treasury, Finance, Funding) have even been given the parameters on which to base the advice to cabinet that is standard procedure for any sort of major capital expenditure let alone the largest expenditure, by far, that the Commonwealth has ever engaged in - and all with borrowed money.
This is, probably, the most flagrant abuse of ministerial power, let alone prime ministerial power, ever attempted in 108 years of Federation and it is made infinitely worse because it has the possibility of effectively setting back Australia's communications industry many, many years if Krudd gets away with it....and yet the Australian peasantry led by the noses by the Australian media and the so called communications industry "experts" ask no questions at all about why no costs have been established before a decision is made on whether it should be attempted.
Perhaps my feeble attempt at a fairy story actually is closer to the truth than its absurdity should allow it to be? Perhaps there really IS a magic NBN that befuddle's the peasantry's minds and makes them think Krudd does have some new clothes, I mean a workable national communication policy?
Well done you.
PS: If you think I'm scathing in my assessment of the costs and benefits of "Krudd's legacy to the nation" are check out what SXE has sumitted to the Senate NBN2 Committee:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25830445-5013565,00.html
or
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/pmx2019s-national-broadband-plan-really-is-no-net-gain-20090802-e5re.html