How much tax payer money has been wasted on the NBN?

21 Responses to How much tax payer money has been wasted on the NBN?

1. Val Majkus

   #3169137, posted on September 27, 2019 at 3:57 pm

   and NDIS
2. Beachcomber

   #3169141, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:01 pm

   The damage caused by the government’s NBN is not limited to the money that has been directly wasted on it. The centralized planning and control, and the inhibition of innovation and development in Australia’s telecommunications means that the NBN will the internet equivalent of the Trabant in the automobile industry.
3. Beachcomber

   #3169143, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:06 pm

   The NDIS is an abuse of disabled people and their carers. Taking resources out localized services that meet community needs, and putting them under the control of a massive centrally controlled behemoth that has no regard for individuals.
4. Dr Fred Lenin

   #3169158, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:36 pm

   All brought to you by caring spcialists NDIS, NBN,Gonski Gay “marriage , “ homophobia. Islamophobia feminazism ,the victim industry, the indigenius industry , bollards ,low interest rates causing impossible debts ,,the list is endless ,they cant gelp themselves ,stupidity and incompetence is rampant they must teach it at university .
5. Rossini

   #3169175, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:57 pm

   Sorry Donald I didn’t quit catch what you said, could you repeat it one more time.
6. Tim Neilson

   #3169177, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:58 pm

   Beachcomber
   #3169141, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:01 pm

   But at least the Trabant was the catalyst for a great film – “Go Trabbie Go”.

   I very much doubt we’ll get even that indirect type of benefit from the NBN – “Go increased p0rn download speeds go” doesn’t have quite the same ring.
7. stackja

   #3169178, posted on September 27, 2019 at 4:58 pm

   RGR signed contracts. RGR don’t need to worry. Plenty of OPM.
8. bemused

   #3169186, posted on September 27, 2019 at 5:10 pm

   You’d be amazed at how many believe that not enough has been spent on the NBN.
9. Behind Enemy Lines

   #3169202, posted on September 27, 2019 at 5:32 pm

   How much tax payer money has been wasted on the NBN?
   Posted on 3:39 pm, September 27, 2019 by The Artist Formerly Known As Spartacus

   All of it.
10. Neil

    #3169261, posted on September 27, 2019 at 7:03 pm

    Actually Rudd/Conroy put the NBN off-budget so I don’t think it can be funded like other govt programs. I am guessing NBNCo borrowed lots of money from banks like any start up companies would. I have seen it stated that the govt has made a contribution but I am not sure how much. Perhaps all of it but I don’t know.
11. BrettW

    #3169357, posted on September 27, 2019 at 9:31 pm

    There is the official costs of NBN but what about costs that can’t be measured.

    For example :
    $10,000 to replace phone system and alarms in a large pharmacy as original system would not work with new.

    $2,000 to install new alarm in another premises.

    If somebody could compile the statistics of above type examples throughout the country it would add a serious amount to the cost.

    Then there is the time and disruption to business and homeowners which had installation problems.

    Somebody should get a polling company to call a thousand businesss, by various types, to get an idea of NBN installation costs and delays etc.

    I remember seeing a report of a speach given by Gillard after Coalition took Government. She listed three main achievements of her time as PM. Two were NBN and NDIS and can’t remember the 3rd.
12. Nob

    #3169363, posted on September 27, 2019 at 9:44 pm

    I have watched these guys working in teams in the UK:
    https://www.cityfibre.com/faqs/

    They’re very fast and efficient – the short PR video on that page shows some of their installation teams working and is consistent with what I’ve observed in person.

    This submission by CityFibre to UK regulators OFCOM is also well worth reading to see how private fibre providers work in the UK, and the regulatory interference they face in the form of price fixing etc.

    There is public money involved but nothing on the scale of what has been squandered in Australia.
    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/55e03fbfed915d06a4000014/CityFibre_hearing_summary_v2.pdf
13. Tel

    #3169525, posted on September 28, 2019 at 5:51 am

    Neil, I’m sure this has been covered already but it all came out of government spending, which means more national debt. This is directly out of the budget “Statement 6: Debt Statement, Assets and Liabilities” for 2019/2020:

    The Government provided the final $2 billion of its $29.5 billion equity contribution to NBN Co in 2017‑18.

    The Government has agreed to provide a loan of up to $19.5 billion to NBN Co on commercial terms. The Government has agreed to extend the duration of its loan by three years (from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2024) and to allow NBN Co to access up to $2 billion of private sector debt. The expected drawdown by NBN Co on the Government loan is $5.7 billion in 2019-20.

    https://www.budget.gov.au/2019-20/content/bp1/download/bp1_bs6.doc

    It seems kind of weird to be extending a loan at commercial rates to a business where you are already the only equity holder … presumably the reason to do that is continuation of the pretense that this is a profitable venture.
14. Neil

    #3169606, posted on September 28, 2019 at 8:59 am

    Tel

    Thanks for that. But Rudd/Conroy put NBNCo off- budget. What does that mean? I think it means it cannot be funded like other govt programs. But it looks they are funding it anyway like other govt programs.
15. Frank Walker from National Tiles

    #3169611, posted on September 28, 2019 at 9:05 am

    BrettW
    #3169357, posted on September 27, 2019 at 9:31 pm

    There is the official costs of NBN but what about costs that can’t be measured.

    They can be measured but they are hard to quantify.

    These losses are called deadweight losses.

    They are the costs of imposing a new rule or a new tax. Invariably, some production must be sacrificed, even if thew scheme is administered perfectly.

    You could also chalk it up to predictable unintended consequences.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_loss
16. nfw

    #3169621, posted on September 28, 2019 at 9:24 am

    The NBN is simply the socialist wet dream come true. Not only does it waste billions of taxpayer moneys and create many overpaid no work “jobs” for leftie luvvie “progressive” public servants in a rubbish system, it ensures government controls the means of distribution of knowledge and commerce in the modern world. It’s also been an ongoing lie (fibre optics for everybody!) and a way to ensure competitive technological advancements don’t happen by being in control of their rice-bowl. It’s straight out of the backwardness of the Soviet Union. I am convinced Rudd stole the “idea” from a West Wing episode which was touting the same thing. he probably thought it was a documentary, similar to that airhead green senator thinking Sea Patrol was one too. It’s the old PMG re-invented.
17. incoherent rambler

    #3169689, posted on September 28, 2019 at 10:38 am

    My objections to the NBN are the :
    1. Demise of the PSTN and replaced by a very sh1tty VOIP system.
    2. Insecure HFC connections. The most hackable system in existence is provided by Telstra and Optus.

    Bad enough that we are forced to pay for NBN, but we are forced (in my case) to pay for a lesser service.
18. Tel

    #3169714, posted on September 28, 2019 at 11:02 am

    Thanks for that. But Rudd/Conroy put NBNCo off- budget. What does that mean?

    It means they simply exclude those numbers from the bottom line, and report them separately.

    This is nothing more than a ruse so it doesn’t look like a loss on the books … that’s it. Keeping up appearances.

    In theory it goes back onto the bottom line at some stage, but you can bet it becomes the hot potato that everyone keeps finding reasons not to mention. As time goes on this will become ridiculous but it’s clownish already.
19. Neil

    #3169965, posted on September 28, 2019 at 4:06 pm

    https://www.innovationaus.com/2018/06/NBN-financially-doomed-from-start

    NBN Co was doomed to be a “financial disaster” regardless of whether it used Labor’s all-fibre model or the current multi-technology mix, respected independent telecommunications analyst firm New Street Research has told a joint parliamentary committee.
    New Street’s respected senior analyst Ian Martin said taxpayers faced a bill for around $30 billion on write downs to the value of NBN Co under the MTM model and that the cost could have been as high as $60 billion under Labor’s all-fibre model.
20. JohnL

    #3170406, posted on September 29, 2019 at 9:59 am

    NBN – devised and initiated by Rudd/Conroy, implemented by Turnbull. What can possibly go wrong?
21. Tel

    #3170434, posted on September 29, 2019 at 10:27 am

    Imagine a project designed by Turnbull then implemented by Rudd & Conroy.

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