To the citizens of most developed nations, the idea that the construction of telecommunications infrastructure would be one of the most heated political debates for over a decade would sound absurd, yet Australia’s National Broadband Network is still causing consternation for the chattering classes 13 years in.

The latest controversy is one of economics: the long-held promise that the NBN was a commercial investment, which would repay its public funding over time, has been essentially discarded in favour of providing consumers affordable internet.