From the AFR:
New England independent MP Tony Windsor has described the Coalition’s alternative national broadband network policy as a “dumbing down of the whole process” and said it would result in in Australians in regional areas paying more for high-speed internet.
“I just can’t believe that someone like Malcolm Turnbull would base this century’s infrastructure on last century’s copper wire,” Mr Windsor said.
…“I’m disappointed that he’s been conned by this process, I thought he would have come up with something a lot better than this,” Mr Windsor said.
Too right. And so much better than Alan Kohler’s absurd defense of Turnbull this morning. From BS:
It won’t make it into his Wikipedia entry, and he won’t get tweets of congratulation from techies, but Malcolm Turnbull’s great achievement over the past two and a half years has been to save the national broadband network….It’s certainly better than dismantling the whole thing, as would have happened if Malcolm Turnbull hadn’t ensured that Tony Abbott WAS for turning.
It’s good to know that the new high water mark for policy is a minister rescuing a half-arsed result from the clutches of his atavistic leader, for which, Kohler seems to be saying, we should grateful.
Windsor’s full press release is worth reading.
