Labor could be voted out by broadband losers

The financial viability of Kevin Rudds nationalised broadband plan at a time of increasing public debt and stressed budgets has so far been at the centre of the political debate.

And in the next election there is no doubt that this debate with play a central role. The pure politics of this broadband decision as seen by the marginal electorates throughout the country has, however, not been focused on. When looked at in this way the broadband backlash Rudd could have the capacity to remove him from office when he does go to the polls.

This vulnerability is something that that the Coalition has not just seen but has already begun to exploit, even if Rudd hasn’t recognised it yet.

The decision by Rudd to bin to broadband pledge he originally made during his election, in which a private-sector deployment was to be relied upon, and replace it with a public-private sector partnership with much bigger $43 billion backed by the taxpayer.

In regards to this subject Rudd said “First of all, let’s be very clear about what we went to the last election with, which was to promise speeds of 12 megabits per second to 98 per cent of Australians and for the remaining 2 per cent, speeds somewhat slower than that delivered by what then existed by way of wireless and satellite technologies. What are we now providing? We are now providing through fibre optic to the home, fibre optic to the business, speeds of 100 megabits per second for 90 per cent of the country. And for the rest of the country, speeds of 12 megabits per second using the next generation wireless and satellite technologies.”

The election plan from Labor essentially meant that 2 percent of Australians would be treated unequally whilst 98 percent would be treated equally. Now with the plans changing to treating 10 percent of the population like second class citizens whilst providing much faster broadband speeds to 90 percent of the population.

Many feel that this latest plan from Rudd was merely a last minute attempt to fill up the hole left by a tendering process that had gone wrong and a promise they couldn’t keep, interestingly it has been noted that 10 percent of the Australian population live in regional and rural areas and the remaining 90 percent live in the country’s urban areas.