Calls for royal commission into the NBN

THE NBN has been a heated issue in this election campaign from the start, and the intense partisanship shows no sign of abating. In fact, it’s getting worse.

A PETITION calling for a royal commission into the rollout of the National Broadband Network has gained nearly 3000 signatures after launching last week.

The intense partisanship surrounding the national infrastructure project shows no signs of abating ahead of polling day on July 2.

The petition was launched by Renai Lemay, the editor of online technology publication Delimiter which has been highly critical of the Coalition’s multi technology approach to the NBN.

“We demand that you signal your support for a royal commission into the politically motivated destruction of the National Broadband Network project,” the petition reads.

Addressed to the nation’s politicians, the petition laments the “tragic situation” of the NBN rollout due to the “severely questionable behaviour in the political management of this project”.

At the time of writing, 2867 people have signed the call-out and hundreds have left comments criticising what they consider the botched execution of the biggest infrastructure project in the nation’s history.

A royal commission may sound like major overkill but those in support point to considerable cost blowouts from using Telstra’s decaying copper network, the fact that Australia has dropped 30 places in global internet speeds since the rollout began and the manner in which NBN chairman Ziggy Switkowski wilfully breached caretaker conventions by publishing an op-ed in Fairfax Media last month as among the reasons to warrant a public inquiry. Not to mention the controversial raids on the homes of a Labor staffer and former communications minister Stephen Conroy in May following a string of leaked internal NBN documents — the justification for which the AFP is refusing to make public.

Waleed Aly blasts Malcolm Turnbull during a segment about the NBN. Picture: Channel 10

Back in March former ABC journalist Nick Ross, who left the national broadcaster in controversial fashion claiming he was prevented from reporting on the NBN to appease Malcolm Turnbull’s office, put the question of a royal commission to shadow communications minister Jason Clare.

Mr Clare dismissed the idea saying Labor would not pursue a royal commission into the matter.

“What I’m interested in is getting the best possible broadband outcome for the Australian people rather than do that,” he said.

Royal commissions don’t come cheap, making the idea of enacting one over the NBN a rather difficult political proposal. The recent royal commission into trade unions cost the government $46 million while Labor says its proposed banking royal commission would come with a $53 million price tag.

For both rural Australians and city dwellers, the NBN has become a major election issue with Labor promising an extra two million homes and businesses will get fibre to the premises if the party wins government.

In total, there is currently 17 active change.org petitions related to the NBN, all of which are demanding access to faster internet or calling on the government to abandon the use of inferior technology in the rollout.

MAJORITY OF AUSTRALIANS PREFER COSTLIER NBN

A majority of Australians favour the superior fibre to the home NBN model supported by Labor even though it would come at greater expense to the tax payer.

A comprehensive survey carried out by the ABC’s online Vote Compass revealed 69 per cent of voters want an NBN that provides greater downloading speeds and bandwidth capacity even if it costs more.

While the preference for the costlier NBN was skewed towards Labor and Greens voters, 52 per cent of Coalition voters said they favour access to faster speeds regardless of the greater taxpayer expense.

Bill Morrow, CEO of NBN Co, appears before a Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network.