where's the accc...competitive neutrality.

This Rudd labor government has shown that it does not care about private investors. It has now burnt investors in telstra and the mining industry.

It is happy to tilt the playing field towards its new nationalised telephone network (NBN) despite selling the last tranch of telstra to its holders less than 3 years ago. I can't see how they can say they are increasing competition and decreasing the cost of internet access when their policy's propose an expensive new monopoly paid for by the taxpayer (me! a tls shareholder).

I will be voting liberal to avoid having the government waste my tax dollars (around $8000 for me and wife) on a fibre network to every house in the country. If there were any worthwhile tech businesses out there they would rent an office in the CBD of any of the major cities to connect to telstra's optic fibre network. If they can't afford that then what are they...and why should I subsidise them?

At the moment conroys trying to shift assets from telstra's balance sheet to the governments balance sheet. Rudd and Swan are busy trying to shift income from the miners to the governments balance sheet (despite not paying for any of the mining equipment to get these mines established and despite the state governments already collecting a royalty from the miners). No consideration for the fact that the investments were made under a different tax regime.

The ACCC should stop reffering to itself as being independent of the government as I hear no comments from them about Conroys anti-competitive policy's... not a squeak. Further, what ever happened to Australia's National Competition Policy. A key plank of this policy is Competitive Neutrality. This requires governments entering a privatised industry to set prices in a manner that is consistent with getting a commercial return and does not under-cut private businesses already in the sector. If they are not going to abide by this 'National Competition Policy' then they should call a spade a spade....they should say to telstra's shareholders "sorry for mucking you about but we want to re re-nationalise the telecommunication network to bit 2 level and because we want you out of it we will compensate you $x"- come out of the closet and say it.....stop trying to walk both sides of the fence.

I have to laugh at Conroys manovering....The NBN does not need to be allowed for in the budget because it is an investment. However, the risk of the investment doesn't matter because the government doesn't require a regular return on the NBN - so in summary the NBN is an investment, but it is not a real investment in the conventional sense because it is using taxpayers money and doesn't need a real return and can underright the business with even more taxpayers dollars if things don't go to plan. What a pile of crudd. I can see this mess getting written off in a future budget!!!

I have seen enough of this governments medicine.

Disclaimer; the above post is my opinion and should not be used to make any decisions. It is purely for entertainment purposes.

I hold shares but do not have a sentiment as I don't know what Conroy will get away with doing to them!