Julia Gillard - beast of insincerity

[Agent Provocateur]

AP, don't you come from a regional area yourself? I would have thought that you of all people would be able to appreciate the transformative power of decent broadband to relieve the pressure of distance felt in regional communities. Businesses in remote areas have been struggling with communications services since the privatisation of Telstra, particularly in respect to having access to reliable services.

Yes but we do have telstra broadband here....I find nothing wrong with what we have now...Broadband is rather fast and I don't see any reason why we should spend 50billion that we don't have on NBN.......I'd rather see the 50billion spent on schools, roads and hospitals...

And to answer your question of where did the 50billion price tag come from...
It came from Gillard herself...She said 47billion but these things never come in on budget...

[Strife]

No. It's $26 billion of government money. Not $47. Even the total cost that includes the money industry are putting in only comes to $43 billion, so I don't have a clue where you're getting $47 billion from. Are you looking at a figure from 5 years ago or something? And it's not running over budget. It's currently running 10% under budget. And as I've already said (more than once), the government will get a 26 billion return on it in under 10 years from spillover savings in other areas of the economy, so it basically costs us nothing. That is a VERY good return. Even the Sydney Harbour Bridge took 60 years to pay for itself. There is nothing wrong with spending money on infrastructure, especially when we'll see such a huge return on it. Just because you personally can't think of any used for decent internet doesn't mean there aren't any. Here are just some examples of possible uses (which I stole from an article by Nick Ross):

Out of office working. Any Australian can choose their favourite part of Australia to live in while working remotely in virtually any office in the world.

Having top-quality conferencing in an office environment will save companies millions of dollars in airfares, travel and accommodation every year.

Doctors will have very high definition medical files at their fingertips wherever they are in the country. Worrying about where your CAT scan or X-ray is stored will be a thing of the past.

There will be significantly emptier hospitals. People won't need to be monitored in hospital, they can be monitored remotely. While this comes with a cost, it is a fraction of the cost of keeping them in hospital and also frees up doctors, nurses and beds.

Outback farmers will have better opportunities to track what's happening across their farms.

Off-site storage. If you have loads of digital photos and videos then secure offsite storage and backup will be viable. You don't have to worry about computer failure, theft or fire in your home or office ever again.

Schools will be able to share lessons with other countries or take virtual tours of famous overseas museums. Students will be able to easily access the best university lectures from around the world.

Intel recently demonstrated a virtual shop. Using the power of currently-available processors, they constructed a screen which acted like a virtual mirror in a clothes store. Only instead of having to try on clothes (or actually be in the store) you just pressed a button and could see what you look like when wearing them. Imagine the benefits for country dwellers being able to shop for clothes at big city clothes stores, whilst in their own homes. Imagine owning a small country boutique clothing shop and having customers try on your clothes from the other side of the country. This is just one benefit and opportunity for small and large business.

At present a big download will knock out a household's entire internet connection. The NBN will remedy this.

You may dismiss gamers as wasters, but the games industry is bigger than the Hollywood movie industry. At present the lag that blights Australia's online gamers can be dire. The NBN will hugely reduce this.

Australia will become the idea place to operate for industries like Hollywood which rely on large files being rapidly transferred to and from cities and remote locations.

A top class internet will mean Australians develop applications to make the most of it, which will hold Australia in good stead when the likes of Europe and America catch up.

Renting phone lines will be a thing of the past. The cost of phone calls will plummet too.

In Japan, they're moving away from satellite and cable TV. For years now, they've plugged their TVs directly into the internet and view media on demand. An NBN will make true media on demand a reality.

[True Blue]

Yeah maybe in sixty years time we'll look back and see the benefits. But is it the right time now? we went from a $10Bn surplus in 2007 to a $46Bn deficit this year. Labor have been spending at nearly $20bn /year more than we earn every year for the past three years running. We owe principal and interest $3.5bn per year or $100M per day, based on paying it off over 25 years.

What have we got to show for it? ZIP sweet FA

[Strife]

What we have to show for it is that we managed to avoid going into recession and 24,500 jobs were created during a GFC. Just because we're in a weaker economic position than we were before the GFC doesn't mean we should suddenly stop investing in infrastructure. Especially when it's badly needed and there's such a clear payoff.

[Agent Provocateur]

In other news....
Looks like whistle blower and anti pokies crusader Andrew Wilkie(independent) may win the undecided seat here in Tassi....

I've met and spoken with Wilkie few months back(b4 state election which he also ran for)....He seems like a genuine decent guy....

I hope he gets in cos maybe then Tassi will stop being the forgotten state

[True Blue]

And if there is a global double dip recession as predicted there is nothing left to spend. We've spent all our ammunition. Rudd/Gillard/Swann 'cacked their dacks' in unison, at the first sound that a union job might be lost. And now with global demand slowing, consumer spending weakening, and interest rates rising there is no petrol left in the tank. everythings is gone, spent, wasted in fact. The BER $16Bn was proven to be spent after any usefulness in preventing a recession. The insulation billions cost lives and homes, and tore apart an industry.

Get down on collective knee and pray to God there is no double dip....because RGS have left us up shitcreek without a paddle

[True Blue]

Calling all body language experts. What is Swann prepared to do the Bob Kat? This looks like a curtsy with a 'let me lick your hairy grey balls". If that's what Swann is prepared to do what would Jules do?

[True Blue]

Gillard by a nose!!

Is is it just me or does she look like a bogan from Altona?

[Strife]

The NBN is probably the largest and most important piece infrastructure any Australian Government has ever undertaken. It's pretty much the sole reason Labor has any hope in hell of getting the support from the independents in the lower house and forming a minority government.

Told ya so

[Agent Provocateur]

Gillard by a nose!!

So now we gotta listen to you moan and bitch for the next 3 years??